


On the Fringe

by shadowtraveled (meteorfest)



Category: Percy Jackson and the Olympians - Rick Riordan
Genre: M/M, Multi, Slash
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2012-05-30
Updated: 2012-06-11
Packaged: 2017-11-06 07:00:01
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Underage
Chapters: 11
Words: 56,876
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/416062
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/meteorfest/pseuds/shadowtraveled
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>A year after the final battle with Kronos, Percy returns to Camp Half-Blood. Camp is expanding and life has returned to some semblance of normalcy. Luke, rescued from Olympus and re-instated at camp, is recovering and doesn't remember anything that happened. When Percy reaches out to Luke to try to become his friend, the younger demigod finds himself wanting more than simple friendship.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> Moved from ff.net. I have gone through and made some minor changes - nothing that really impacts the story, just removing a few background OCs and cleaning up some prose. Also upped the rating from the original ff.net posting because a later chapter will have mature content. This work is unfinished and will not be updated past final uploaded chapter.

Percy Jackson was ready to get back to Camp Half-Blood. He'd spent the last year at Jefferson High, a private school in Manhattan, the first school he'd ever successfully attended for a full year. His mother had thrown him a party to celebrate, taking him to Montauk and inviting his close friends Grover Underwood and Annabeth Chase to come with them. The four of them had enjoyed blue frosted cupcakes, blue Twizzlers and Mountain Dew Voltage, which was the perfect shade of blue to match the long-held tradition of blue food that Percy and his mother, Sally, had enjoyed for years.

During the party, Tyson had popped up unexpectedly, rushing across the beach to his half-brother. Percy had just managed to calm the young Cyclops down before Tyson could crush him in his arms. Tyson was always excited to see his brother, often times forgetting that he was taller, larger and stronger than Percy was. After he'd hugged his brother, without causing much more than a set of sore ribs, Tyson had presented Percy with a congratulatory gift from both himself and their father, Poseidon; a conch shell.

The conch shell, Tyson explained, was a way for Percy to speak to both Tyson and Poseidon. It was a long used way of communication between the sea god and those of his blood. Mortals had long since used conch shells to hear the sea from a distance. To the sons and daughters of Poseidon, the sound of the sea was actually the voice of Poseidon himself.

Percy held the conch shell in his hands now, as his mother drove him and Grover along the road that led to Camp Half-Blood. Annabeth, though she had enjoyed the party and seeing her friends again, had needed to return to Olympus, where she was continuously overseeing the reconstruction of the ancient home of the gods. Grover and Percy sat in the back seat of the Toyota that belonged to Percy's step-father, Paul Blofis. The two of them were chatting amiably, with Grover getting Percy caught up in the happenings at Camp Half-Blood.

"A lot has changed," Grover told his friend. "We finished getting the new cabins built and we've appointed head counselors to the new cabins."

"What about Hermes' cabin?" Percy asked.

Grover paused. "Travis and Connor are still heading the cabin. We figured Luke wasn't ready to take back his old job."

Percy nodded. In the final battle against Kronos, Luke had nearly been killed when he'd taken Annabeth's dagger, a cursed blade, to drive the Titan lord out of his body. It had been a close call and, if it hadn't been for the nectar and ambrosia the half-blood army had had on hand, they would have lost Luke for sure. At the time, Percy'd had mixed feelings about saving Luke; over the years, he'd come to despise the older half-blood for all the evil things he had done, trying to destroy the camp, trying to killing him on several occasions, and threatening all he loved more than once.

However, after a while, Percy had realized that Luke, despite everything, was a true hero and deserved life anew. He felt a little better about it, though admittedly a little guilty, when Asclepius, the physician of the gods, had erased Luke's memory of the last several years. Luke had been taken back to Camp Half-Blood to recover and retrain. The entire camp had sworn upon the River Styx to keep secret the evil deeds the son of Hermes had committed.

Still, Luke was one thing about returning to Camp Half-Blood that Percy was uneasy about. Though he, too, had taken the oath to keep quiet about Luke's misdoings, he couldn't help the apprehension he felt around the older half-blood. After so many years with Luke as his enemy, there were feelings that Percy could only just contain. He was still angry at Luke, still half-afraid that Luke would turn around and try to kill him again, remembering on his own that Percy had once been his enemy.

"Hey," Grover said, breaking into Percy's thoughts.

Percy looked up at his friend. "What?"

"I know you're worried about Luke," Grover replied. "I can feel it."

Percy gave a small half-smile. The emotional link between him and Grover was still strong, growing only stronger; the satyr always had some insight into Percy's feelings. "Sorry," he apologized.

"You don't have to worry about Luke," Grover told him. "He doesn't remember anything about Kronos or what he's done. Asclepius made sure of that. Unless someone breaks the oath, and I'm sure no one is about to do that, Luke will never remember."

"Yeah, I know," Percy muttered, looking down at the conch shell in his hands. His fingers ran along the contours of the shell, feeling the rough, outer texture against the sensitive skin of his fingertips. He gave a shrug. "I just don't think I can handle being around him."

"You've got some lingering hate towards him, I get it," Grover said. "So do I. A lot of us do. The things he put us through, it's understandable. But everyone has agreed to give him another chance. We gotta stick to that."

"I know."

The two of them fell silent. Percy continued to stare at the shell in his hands, toying with it, flipping it upside down. Grover pulled one of the empty Mountain Dew cans out of a bag he'd brought along and started chewing on it, crunching the aluminum between his teeth as he watched the scenery go by. It was late afternoon and they were nearing the camp. After a while, they reached the strip of road in front of the camp. In the distance, over the hill, Percy could just see the back of the dragon that guarded the entrance to the camp. The dragon was snoozing under the pine tree that had once been Thalia, the daughter of Zeus, now the lieutenant of Artemis' hunters.

Percy opened his door and stepped out of the car, grabbing his backpack from its place on the floorboard. He shut the door and turned to the driver's side window, where his mother was smiling at him. Percy leaned in, giving Sally a quick kiss on the cheek.

"Bye, Mom," he said. "Take care of yourself. I'll see you in August."

Sally nodded. "Bye, sweetie. Don't get into too much trouble." She waved goodbye to Grover as the satyr crossed in front of the car before turning back to her son. "Paul and I will be expecting calls over the summer."

"Yeah, I know," Percy told her, giving her a wave as he turned to head up the hill. "Bye!"

Sally watched Percy and Grover hurry up the hill until they both disappeared across the boundaries of the camp. She shifted gears and turned back onto the road to head back home.

* * * * *

Grover had not been kidding when he'd said that Camp Half-Blood had changed. Percy had seen the beginnings of the camp's remodel, when the new cabins were just being built. In addition to the original twelve cabins for the Olympian gods, there were now several cabins for the other gods. There were now twenty cabins, with more still being planned. It all depended on how many gods claimed their children.

Amongst the new cabins, Percy recognized the cabin for the children of Hecate, goddess of magic and night. Most, if not all of the children of Hecate were girls, for Hecate was most commonly known as the goddess of witches. The Hecate cabin was made of stone inscribed with the words of magic and, out front, a group of teenage girls sat in a circle around a small fire, hands joined and mouths moving, forming words of magic. The oldest girl, at least eighteen years old, led the group. She had short-cut black hair and dark eyes against her dark skin. She was dressed in a pair of khaki shorts and an orange Camp Half-Blood shirt, a tangle of necklaces around her neck and a number of bracelets on both wrists. Her feet were bare and covered in dirt.

"That's Tayen," Grover said from his place beside Percy. "She's the head counselor for the Hecate cabin." He leaned in towards his friend. "She was on the Titans' side in the war, but joined our side last minute."

"Ah," Percy muttered, turning his head away from the Hecate cabin. He walked past the rest of the cabins, only giving them minor attention as he took in information from Grover as to which cabins belonged to which god or goddess.

They soon reached cabin three, Percy's home and Poseidon's cabin. Percy stopped in front of the door and let his backpack slip from his shoulder. He turned to Grover.

"So, I'll see you later?" he asked. "Or are you busy now, being a Lord of the Wild?"

Grover, still not quite used to his new title, gave a shrug. "I'll be around," he replied. "I've got some work to do around here, but I'll be around until winter solstice. I've got plans to head west. Got some work to do out there."

Percy nodded. "Saving the wild, one satyr at a time."

"Yeah."

"Alright," Percy said. He put his hand on the door to the cabin. "Well, I'd better get unpacked."

Grover turned. "I'll see you around, Percy."

After Grover had gone, Percy turned and pushed open the door to the cabin. Stepping in, he looked around. Not much had changed here; the fountain in the corner still ran, an endless mist dancing in the air. His bunk was made, just as he'd left it. The cabin was large and pretty bare, but it was home. Percy stepped towards his bunk and it was only until he got closer to his bunk that he noticed someone else in one of the bunks close by.

He turned towards the bunk in surprise; he was so used to being the only child of Poseidon that he hadn't been expecting anyone to be there. Perhaps Poseidon hadn't been kidding when he'd mentioned sending him some siblings last year. Percy stepped towards the bunk.

A young girl, probably no older than twelve, as Percy had been when he'd first arrived at camp, lay in the bunk, taking an afternoon nap. The girl had long black hair, held in a ponytail that had loosened with tossing and turning as she'd slept. She had a tanned complexion, as though she was from a Middle-Eastern country. The girl gave a slight moan in her sleep before her eyes opened, as if she had unconsciously sensed Percy standing over her. She bolted upright and stared at Percy, eyes wide in surprise.

"Whoa, calm down!" Percy told her, raising his hands to show that he meant the girl no harm. "I'm Percy Jackson. I live here."

The girl furrowed her brow, dark eyes focusing on Percy. "You are…a son of Poseidon?" she asked, her English heavily accented and articulated.

Percy nodded. "I am. If you're here, that means you're a daughter of Poseidon."

The girl gave a nod of her own. "I am Alima, daughter of Poseidon." Alima looked at him. "You are my brother?"

"Something like that," Percy replied, smiling gently at her. He felt a little proud; he'd never had a sister before, so meeting Alima was rather welcome surprise. "We'll be getting to know each other this summer."

Alima gave a shy smile in return. "I would very much like that, brother."

After talking to Alima for a bit longer, Percy went over to his own bunk and began unpacking his things. He placed the conch shell given to him by Tyson on the bedstand, arranging it so that it balanced nicely on the wood surface without rocking. Beside it, Percy set down a photo of him with his mother and step-father, from Christmas break. It was a good picture, something that reminded him of his entire family; the picture had been taken at the beach, where Percy was closest to his father and half-brother. He could almost see Poseidon and Tyson in the picture, figures distant in the ocean.

Alima, since she was awake now, had gotten out of bed and started cleaning up around her bunk. Percy watched her make her bed and pick up a staff that had been lying on the floor. The staff was about four feet long and tipped with celestial bronze caps. It was obvious by the way Alima had no trouble handling it that it was probably her weapon of choice. Percy wondered how long Alima had been using the staff; it had some visible wear to it, dents in the celestial bronze caps and fading to the metal where Alima had gripped it in fights.

"So, how long have you been here?" Percy asked her.

Alima didn't look at him as she continued cleaning, picking up socks from where they'd been tossed to the floor. "Oliver, the satyr who found me, brought me here in November."

"What about your mother? Do you go see her during break?"

Alima was quiet for a long moment. Percy thought that maybe he'd hit a sore spot; it wasn't uncommon for half-bloods to have lost their mortal parent because of monster attacks or have been kicked out of the house for being too dangerous. Alima may not even have a mother anymore.

"My mother is happy with her husband and her children with him," Alima said, voice soft. "He was not happy with me and did not want me in his house. My mother sent me away because she wanted her husband to be happy."

"Oh." Percy fell silent, feeling sorry that he had asked and that Alima was alone. "I'm sorry," he told her. "I didn't mean to upset you."

Alima shook her head and turned to him. "I am not upset. Because Mother sent me away, Oliver found me and brought me here. I am happy here." She smiled. "I have friends here and now I have a brother."

Percy smiled back at her. "Yeah."

"We will be a good family, Percy," Alima said. "You and me. And our many cousins."

Percy was glad that Alima had told him that she was happy here. It reminded him of his first year at Camp Half-Blood, when he had discovered his extended family and felt that connection with the other campers. This place, Camp Half-Blood, was truly home. Everyone here was, as Alima had said, family. They didn't always get along, like Percy and the children of Ares, but when worst came to worse, they were that tight-knitted family.

"I think it will be a good summer," Percy grinned.

* * * * *

At dinner that night, Percy and Alima sat together. It was nice to have another person at the Poseidon table, they agreed. Alima was a bit on the quiet side during dinner, but she was beaming throughout the meal, obviously glad that she wasn’t sitting alone anymore. She gladly sat listening to Percy talk, eager to learn about her older half-brother; she’d heard stories about Percy from a few of the other campers, but she’d wanted to get to know him personally. Percy, not that he was bragging, was glad to tell Alima of the quests he’d been on. 

Of course, Percy was careful to keep out any mention of Luke in his stories. Looking across the other tables to table eleven, Percy watched Luke amongst the other children of Hermes. The older half-blood didn’t seem to notice that he was being watched. The blond was laughing at the Stoll brothers' antics as they told him stories of their own, how they’d been involved in the big fight. The way Luke looked, it seemed that he was only upset that 'he hadn’t been there' to fight.

The cover story was that Luke had been away on a quest and had gotten caught by the trap in the Lotus Hotel and Casino. It was, admittedly, a bit of a feeble cover story and couldn’t explain all the holes in Luke’s memory from where Asclepius had manipulated the half-blood’s mind, but so far, it had gone over pretty well. Luke didn’t question it and with the great oath upon the River Styx, none of the campers who’d been involved could tell him otherwise without dire consequences.

"And after Annabeth taunted Polyphemus?" Alima asked, breaking into Percy’s thoughts. "What happened after that?" 

"Huh?" Percy asked, having trailed off. He thought for a brief moment and continued. "After that, Polyphemus attacked her, but she was wearing her invisibility cap and he couldn’t find her."

Percy went on to tell the rest of the story as dinner progressed, going into the details that he deemed safe within the camp’s boundaries. Alima enjoyed his stories, paying him the utmost attention. As Percy finished his story, telling her of sending Clarisse back to camp with the Golden Fleece, Mr. D stood up, calling for everyone's attention. The campers settled, turning in their seats to face him.

"Yes, another fine meal and I have the utter _joy_ of another summer at this _delightful_ camp," Mr. D drawled, the stressing of his words dripping with sarcasm. "I see our returning _hero_ , Peyton Johansson, in the crowd. _Brilliant_."

Alima lifted a brow at Percy, questioning why Dionysus would be so cynical and disrespecting of him, despite Percy's part in saving Olympus just a year previous. Percy looked at her and told her in a soft voice that he’d tell her later.

Dionysus looked around at the crowd of campers at the many tables in front of him. "When my beloved father decided to send me here to torture me, there were but twelve cabins. I look around me now, seeing twice that number, and wonder if my father's punishment was overkill. Alas, I remain stuck with you brats." He raised his goblet, filled to the brim with Diet Coke. "To another summer of _fun_ and _excitement_ , my dear half-blood cousins."

The campers raised their glasses in the toast. After the toast, the campers left the tables to circle around the bonfire, where the Apollo cabin led in the sing-a-long. The fire burned high and warm that night, shifting colors with each song, brilliant cerulean to glittering silver. It was probably the best beginning to the summer that Percy had ever experienced.

* * * * *

Percy's dreams were usually premonitions, warnings of things to come. Sometimes they started calm and well, often misleading him into a sense of security and warmth. Percy liked that part of his dreams. It was usually shortly after that when the dreams turned into nightmares. With Kronos defeated, the dreams had calmed considerably. No longer did Percy dream of Tartarus and the dark void that Kronos had promised him. The dreams were never that vivid anymore. 

This dream was more toned down, kind of glazed over. In the dream, Percy recognized his surroundings as Camp Half-Blood. It was clear out as usual, with the camp’s magic keeping out bad weather, but it was more than that. The camp itself was clear; there were no other campers outside, no archers practicing on the firing range, no daughters of Hecate casting spells outside their cabin, no satyrs dancing around the strawberry fields as they piped on their panflutes. 

It was just…clear. Percy wandered through the camp in his dream, looking for any sign that he wasn’t alone. He wandered towards the lake, onto the pier, and looked down. Where he expected to see naiads weaving baskets underwater, he saw only his reflection in the water. He frowned at himself, confusion fogging his mind. 

"Percy."

Percy spun around to face whoever had said his name. He was still alone, standing on the pier, no one in sight. He had clearly heard his name called, in a voice that sounded familiar. There was only one person he knew could become invisible, but the voice had not been Annabeth's. Percy knew Annabeth's voice. This voice had been soft, but strong. 

"Who’s there?" Percy demanded, his voice echoing through the empty campground.

No one answered. Percy tensed, knowing that this was usually the point in his dreams that strange things happened. He quieted, listening for any sound that might give away the intruder's position. 

Nothing. 

Percy shifted, looking around him. No one, nothing had shown up. He was still the only sign of life at the camp. It was beginning to become distinctly uncomfortable in the dream, but Percy could not yet wake. 

"Percy Jackson," the voice called again, this time from behind him.

Percy turned again, facing the lake. Still, no one appeared. He narrowed his eyes, the confusion giving him a headache. Whoever was there didn't want to be seen, but the voice was hauntingly familiar. Percy simply couldn't place it.

A pair of arms suddenly wrapped around him from behind, a hand covering his mouth quickly so he couldn’t shout out. Percy could feel warm breath on his neck, steady streams of air against the hair that brushed the nape of his neck. Though Percy couldn't see who had grabbed him, he had the distinct feeling that he knew who it was.

"You can tell me the truth, Percy," the intruder said, voice in his ear. "All you have to do is tell me the truth."

Percy couldn't speak, for the hand still covering his mouth. He struggled to get out of the other's grip, try to face whoever it was. The intruder held him fast, keeping Percy from making any progress.

"Who am I, Percy Jackson?"

* * * * *

Puzzled by the dream, Percy spent the next morning musing it over during breakfast. He’d long since learned to be wary of his own dreams. This dream had been so different from the dreams he’d received over the years, but it had the same feeling of trouble and urgency as dreams of the past. He simply didn't know what it meant; there was no distinct threat from the dream, just a sense of uneasiness. 

"Hey, Percy."

Percy snapped out of his reverie and looked up. In front of him, across from the table, was Luke. The older half-blood smiled at him, scar shifting under his right eye. Over the years, the thick scar had begun fading and thinning, but it was still visible and unsettling. Luke's sandy blond hair had grown, reaching his chin and held back in a loose ponytail. His eyes, once straight blue, had flecks of gold from when Kronos had possessed him. That was the most unnerving thing about Luke.

"Luke," Percy said in greeting.

Luke crossed his arms and leaned forward, resting his arms on the surface of the table. "Can't stay long or Mr. D will get on my case about breaking rules. But I heard you and Annabeth broke up?"

"Oh," Percy murmured. He gave a small, awkward grin. "Yeah, things weren't working out. She's spending a lot of time on Olympus and doesn't get down here often enough. We decided to break up until things up there settled."

"I see," Luke mused. "So, you've broken up, but just temporarily."

"Something like that."

Luke grinned at him. "And here I was, ready to give you a verbal thrashing for hurting Annabeth. But you didn't, so now I have no excuse."

"Guess not," Percy replied. It was kind of hard to act normal around Luke, have a good conversation with him. There were simply too many things that Percy was still angry with the son of Hermes for; the deaths of Charles Beckendorf and Silena Beauregard, not to mention the deaths of so many other campers, every trouble that Percy had been through since coming to Camp Half-Blood -- all of it had something to do with Luke's betrayal. 

"Look, Percy," Luke said. "I know things are pretty rough, what with camp having changed so much and everyone on their toes about the big fight, but you know I'm around if you need to talk, right?"

Percy nodded absently. "Yeah."

"And you know," Luke continued. "I'm sorry I wasn't there. To help fight."

_Only you were,_ Percy thought. _You were just on the wrong side._

"Back to your table, Castellan!" Dionysus shouted from his seat at table twelve. 

"Yes, sir!" Luke called back. He looked back at Percy. "You know where to find me. I'll see you at sword practice. Can't wait to see how much you've improved!"

With that, Luke stood up and hurried back to the Hermes table, taking his seat next to Loki, one of his half-brothers. Loki was younger than Luke, nineteen years old, but he was the probably one of the closest friends Luke had at the moment. He had been one of the first new sons of Hermes to arrive at camp after the final battle with Kronos, so he didn't even know of Luke's involvement. 

A lot of the kids now at the camp were too new to know about Luke's involvement. For that, Percy was actually grateful. It was less chance for Luke to remember the things he'd done. No one knew what remembering would do to him, if he would go insane with guilt or rage, if he would once again try to bring down Olympus. Percy knew that, before Asclepius had erased Luke's memory, the older half-blood had been truly regretful for his actions. He just wondered if that regret remained and would still be there if Luke remembered.

* * * * *

Though his memories had been manipulated and erased, it was obvious that Luke had not forgotten his skills with a sword. He’d once again taken over as instructor for swordplay and, by the way he moved, blade flashing in the late morning sun, it was clear that he was just as good as ever, possibly better. This was where Luke belonged, in the arena, instructing campers on technique for fighting for survival. 

Percy watched Luke as the son of Hermes sparred with Jereth, one of the older, more experienced campers. Jereth, though more comfortable with a bow, being a son of Apollo, kept pace with Luke. Both of them were strong, skilled and confident. It was an intense spar. Jereth's dark dreadlocks danced as he moved, evading Luke’s strikes. Luke's blue and gold eyes were focused on Jereth's watching for signs of the dark teen's next move. 

Percy recognized that gaze. He'd been on the receiving end of that look more than once and he knew that Luke was determined to win the match. Jereth might stand a chance against him, but in the end, Luke would be the victor. It all came down to Luke's determination; Jereth was good and confident, but Luke was more so.

There was a reason why Luke had once been called the best swordsman in three hundred years.

Luke moved, almost too quickly to see, and Jereth's sword was on the ground. The point of Luke’s sword was just centimeters from the son of Apollo's throat. Both half-bloods were heaving from exhaustion, sweat pouring down their faces. Luke and Jereth looked at each other for a moment, then Luke lowered his sword.

"And the match is mine," he said, proudly.

The crowd of campers that had been watching burst into applause. Jereth sheathed his sword and headed to get some water, completely parched from exertion. Luke joined him just long enough to catch his breath and re-hydrate. After a moment, he instructed the gathered campers to get their own armor and swords for practice. 

Percy left the crowd, going to join Alima in the stables. He hadn't even gotten more than ten feet away when he felt a hand clamp down on his shoulder. He turned to see Luke grinning at him.

"Not sticking around?" Luke asked. "Afraid to challenge me?"

Memories of fighting Luke surfaced in Percy's mind. The only reason he'd managed to survive his last fight with Luke was because he'd taken a dip in the River Styx. He had to wonder if that still affected them both. Perhaps that was the reason Luke had won the match against Jereth, not just his sense of determination. 

Percy shook his head in response to Luke's question. "I could take you, but I'm scheduled to give pegasus riding lessons."

"Ah," Luke replied. He seemed disappointed. "Well, next time, then, Percy."

Luke headed back to the group of campers waiting for their lessons. Percy watched him head back before turning to cross the camp to the stables. He hurried, knowing he was already running late from watching the match. He just reached the stables when Alima came out to look for him.

"You are late," she told him. "The children of Aura are waiting for their lessons."

"Yeah, I know," Percy replied. "Sorry." He entered the stables and apologized to the waiting group. "Okay, so, let's get started." He went over to the stall where his old friend, Blackjack waited for him.

_/Yo, boss!/_ the black stallion greeted. _/Long time, no see!/_

"Hello, Blackjack," Percy told him. He gave Blackjack an affectionate pat on the nose before turning to the group behind him. "This is Blackjack," he told the gathered campers. "He and I have been through a lot together and he'll be helping with my demonstrations."

_/I get apples for this, right?/_ Blackjack asked. _/I’d better get apples for this./_

Alima gave a giggle from her spot with the group. As the daughter of Poseidon, she, too, could understand horses and pegasi. The rest of the group simply looked at her like she was crazy. Alima didn't seem to mind. She looked at Percy and smiled; the ability to understand Blackjack was just between the two of them. Percy smiled back at her.

"Riding a pegasus is just like riding a horse," Percy told the group. "Except with pegasi, you have to keep the wings in mind. Don't sit where you'll interfere with the pegasus' wing movements."

He opened the stall door to let Blackjack out, then led both the pegasus and the gathered campers out of the stable into the open campground. Once they were outside, Percy gestured for Alima to approach to help with the demonstration. The girl came forward and Percy helped her up onto Blackjack's back. 

"See how Alima is sitting behind the wings? This way, she gives Blackjack freedom to fly. You need to be careful that you stay out of the way when your pegasus is flying. If you get too close to the wings, you can hamper their ability to fly and probably get bucked off."

_/I take her up now, right?/_ Blackjack asked. 

Percy nodded. "Take her up. Don't go too high. We need to be able to see you."

Blackjack gave a shake of his head and whinnied. _/Hang on, little boss!/_

He started to gallop, gaining the speed to take off. Stretching his wings, Blackjack leapt into the air and flapped his wings to get airborne. Percy explained to the Aura group that, in order to fly a pegasus, the rider needed to work with their mount; it wasn't just the pegasus' natural ability to fly, but the synchrony of pegasus and rider that made it really work.

After the demonstration was over, Percy brought out a few more of the camp's pegasi and let the Aura group take turns learning how to mount and ride a pegasus. When they took to the air, the children of Aura were almost as comfortable flying as Percy and Alima were. This was because their mother was the goddess of the breeze; reading the winds came naturally to them and enhanced the flying experience. 

When rotation came, the Aura children helped bring the pegasi back to the stables and thanked Percy for the lessons. A few stayed behind to talk longer, amongst them, the cabin counselors, a set of twins about sixteen years old. The twins, Emma and Ella, offered to clean up the pegasi, brush out their manes. Their cabin was on break after this last activity, so they had some free time to spare. Percy agreed to let them help, assigning each twin to one pegasi. 

One of the twins, Percy wasn't sure which one was which, struck up conversation as they worked. "So, Percy, how long have you been at camp?"

"Since I was twelve," Percy replied. "This is my fifth summer here."

"So you know just about everything about camp, right?"

"Not really," Percy admitted. "Six years is nothing compared to some of the other campers here."

The girl nodded, patting the nose of the pegasus she was brushing, a lovely creamy mare. "But you know Luke, right?"

Percy paused. "Sorry, er…"

"Emma," the girl informed him.

"…Emma. I can't really talk about him."

Emma tilted her head, fingering a lock of the mare’s mane. "That's the thing, though," she mused. "It seems no one can. I'm just curious about why."

"I can't tell you that, either, sorry," Percy told her. 

Emma turned to look at Ella, exchanging glances with her sister. "We just find that a little strange, right, Ella?"

Ella nodded. "It's like everyone's in on a big secret."

"Very strange," Emma said. 

"Indeed," Ella agreed.

Percy was going to tell the twins that the topic of Luke was off-limits, but the girls dropped the subject on their own, going back to work brushing their pegasi. Conversation switched to the next activity on their roster and Percy let them talk on their own. He returned to grooming Blackjack.

_/So…/_ Blackjack said after a long moment. _/When do I get those apples?/_


	2. Chapter 2

Without the threat of Kronos, Camp Half-Blood was once again much like it had been that first summer Percy had been there. Schedules were set up, daily activities divided up by lot. The daily inspections always caught Percy off-guard, but Alima was always ready to help get the cabin clean before the inspectors came with the scrolled checklists. Because there were two of them, Percy and Alima were able to keep themselves from winding up with kitchen duties with the cleaning harpies.

Every day, the campers trained, learned and generally lived life the best way they could at the camp. Things were usually calm, though sometimes, there would be some kind of accident - nothing major or life-threatening, but the occasional stray arrow catching someone off-guard or someone would go into the woods to fight some of the monsters stocked there and end up with some injury or another. The Apollo cabin would help out in the infirmary for these happenings, putting their healing knowledge to work.

Percy would hang out with Grover a lot during his break time, just to spend time with his best friend. Alima had her own friends to hang out with, but sometimes she would drop by to chat briefly with Grover. Today, Percy and Grover were just hanging by the lake, skipping stones across the smooth surface.

"So, have you talked to Annabeth since your party?" Grover asked.

Percy threw his stone, counting one, two, three, four jumps across the lake. "Yeah," he said. "She sent me an Iris Message last night. Asked how camp was, how Luke was doing."

It kind of hurt him still that Annabeth cared so much about Luke. She'd confessed last year that she loved Luke more as a brother, but Percy had known that she had said that to spare Luke. Annabeth would always consider Luke to be her first love. It made Percy a little jealous. It was true that he and Annabeth had broken up for the time being, but he still considered her to be his girlfriend. They still cared about each other, after all.

"You know that she's just worried about him," Grover told him. "He was her friend for years. She can't let go of that and he wouldn't understand if she did."

Percy gave a soft grunt of acknowledgment. He knew that; he didn't like it. "I kind of wish she were here," he said. "If she was, I wouldn't have to talk about him to her." He looked at Grover. "Do you have any idea how awkward that is?"

Grover threw a stone across the lake. "Pretty awkward?"

As Grover's stone skipped across the surface of the lake, one of the naiads surfaced, glaring at the two of them. "Do you _mind_?"

"Sorry!" Grover called to her. He dropped the other stones he'd gathered to skip, letting them clack against the other stones that covered the shore.

Percy shoved his hands into the pockets of the khaki cargo shorts he wore, heaving a sigh. "Let's head back to the arena," he suggested. "I want to practice while Luke's not there."

Grover followed Percy across the campgrounds. "You know, avoiding him isn't going to help anything. He thinks of you as a friend, since he doesn't remember…what happened. He's going to start asking questions."

Percy thought about that. It was bad enough that the Aura twins had been asking about Luke a few days ago. If the newer campers had figured out there was something odd about Luke, there was no doubt that Luke himself would eventually start catching on. Between the curiosity of the newer campers and how the older campers tended to shun Luke, things would start going downhill.

"Maybe we should talk to Chiron about this?" Grover asked. "He's the one who suggested the oath in the first place. He could get the others to make the oath, too."

"I don't know," Percy said, approaching the arena. He could hear the clashing of sword against shield and gave a groan. He hoped that the noise was being made by other campers, not Luke. He'd been expecting Luke to be with the rest of the Hermes cabin at the climbing wall.

Entering the arena, Percy was somewhat relieved to see Clarisse practicing her sword-fighting against one of the many dummies set up around the arena. Though he was about as happy about seeing Clarisse as he was about seeing Luke, the daughter of Ares was somewhat of a step-up from the son of Hermes.

Clarisse had actually arrived late to camp this summer, coming in a week after Percy had arrived. Rumor had it that she had been looking into colleges, something that surprised Percy; he had never thought of Clarisse as the type to sit in school, much less college lectures. But she was reaching the age where college would be a good idea and she had spent most of the last several years at camp. School might actually do her good.

Percy watched Clarisse practice for a while and he noticed something a bit different about her style. She usually fought with a fierce determination, even while just working with practice dummies, but today, she seemed particularly angry. Her attacks were flawed, like her mind was fogged by a sense of utter rage. Even when Silena, her close friend, had been killed last year, the anger hadn't blocked out Clarisse's ability to fight.

"What's got her so mad?" Percy asked Grover quietly.

Grover gave a shrug, unable to take his eyes off the daughter of Ares. "If she were against something alive, she would've been taken out, fighting like that."

Clarisse gave a sudden frustrated shriek of rage and brought her sword down hard on the dummy, shredding the straw figure and breaking the wooden shield attached to it. She then threw her sword across the arena with all her might and dropped her own shield, kicking at it harshly. The sound of steel-toed boots hitting the shield echoed through the arena.

Percy flinched. In the years that he'd known her, he'd _never_ seen Clarisse so angry. Even when he'd drenched her with toilet water and humiliated her, broken her electrified spear in the first game of Capture the Flag he'd ever participated in, her rage hadn't been anywhere near this feral. He would hate to be the person who'd made her this angry.

Clarisse spun around, her stringy brown hair whirling around her face as she faced Percy and Grover. Her eyes were narrowed to near slits and her face a violent shade of crimson. She clenched her fists and glared at them.

" _What_ are you _staring_ at?" she demanded. " _Get lost!_ "

"We just came to practice," Percy said, trying to remain calm. Though he had no love for Clarisse, he was a little worried about her. There was no way she was alright, as angry as she was.

"The arena's closed!" Clarisse spat at him.

"A-alright," Grover told her, feeling a little nervous. He really didn't like confrontations, much less confrontations with Clarisse.

" _Get lost!_ " Clarisse repeated, tearing off a piece of armor from her arm and throwing it towards them.

Grover jumped out of the way of the armor projectile and grabbed Percy by the arm. "C'mon, Percy!"

"Yeah, coming," Percy told him.

The two of them hustled out of there before Clarisse could throw anything else at them. Behind them, they could hear Clarisse screaming in rage, swearing alternately in English and ancient Greek. They hadn't gotten far when Chris, Clarisse's boyfriend, caught up with them. He'd followed them out of the arena.

"Hey, guys," he called as he approached. "Sorry about Clarisse. She's not having a good day."

"I could tell," Percy deadpanned, stopping to talk with Chris. "What happened?"

Chris slouched, placing his hands in his pockets. "You know we just got back to camp, right?"

Percy and Grover nodded. Chris continued.

"Well, we'd left camp before Chiron had everyone take that oath," he said. "The one about Luke. We took a year off to travel and get away from camp, look at colleges for next year. When we got back here yesterday, Chiron called us to the Big House to take the oath."

"She's not happy about it, is she?" Grover asked.

"Obviously," Chris told him. "But it's more than that. Because of the oath, she can't get back at Luke for what happened to Silena."

Percy blinked. "Oh."

It was well known that Ares and his children were famous for holding grudges. Clarisse had probably sworn to get revenge for Silena's death and the oath, aside from keeping everyone quiet about Luke's past, also kept anyone from doing anything about it, like Clarisse's desire for revenge. Not everyone had been willing to take the oath because of the restrictions and had been forced to take the oath before the gods. Because an oath on the river Styx was such a serious promise, no one could back out of it or do anything to even bend their word.

"Yeah," Chris said. "She's furious. I've tried to calm her down, but she won't even talk to me. She's been in the arena since six this morning, doing nothing but destroy dummies."

Percy actually felt sorry for Clarisse. Though he, too, was angry with Luke for all the deaths the older half-blood had caused, he hadn't been seeking revenge. Clarisse, on the other hand, had likely been thinking up ways to avenge her friend all year. The oath had now taken all that away from her.

On the other hand, Percy was a little relieved. Despite everything that Luke had done, he didn't want to kill him. There had been times when he had wanted to, but that had all faded away. Killing Luke now would not do any good and, besides that, it would be like killing an innocent man; the gods had absolved Luke of the crimes he'd committed because of his last minute sacrifice.

"I hope she'll be alright," Percy told Chris. His words were genuine; just because he and Clarisse didn't get along didn't mean he wasn't sincere in his hopes for her.

Chris nodded. "I hope so, too."

* * * * *

Over the last few days, Percy had continued to have dreams of an empty campground. Unlike his dreams before, this recurring dream never picked up where it'd left off. It always started the same; he was walking through Camp Half-Blood, alone. Each night, he wound up somewhere else in the dream -- usually somewhere he'd been the day before the dream happened. The latest dream took place in the arena.

Again, he'd been looking for signs of other campers and, again, he found none. That was, up until the point where someone was calling his name. The familiar voice called for him this time and Percy waited, preparing himself to catch the mysterious intruder off-guard. Percy was ready for him -- for the intruder's voice was male, Percy had concluded in a previous dream.

"Percy Jackson."

The pair of arms that had been grabbing him in the last few dreams wrapped themselves around Percy's waist. Though Percy had been ready for them, prepared to fight back and win this time, he was once again held tightly. He struggled, grabbing onto the arms and trying to pry them off so he could face his attacker. The arms remained latched around his waist.

"I'm waiting for the answer, Percy Jackson," the intruder told him, mouth right next to his ear. Percy felt a warm, wet tongue brush against his earlobe and he shivered. "I know you hold the key to this."

One of his captor's arms moved, running over his body smoothly. Percy froze, finding himself frightened and, more worrying, a little aroused. His breath caught in his throat. He could hardly believe this was even happening, dream or not. He resisted, tried to tell whoever his captor was to stop, but that sensation of his captor's tongue against the soft, sensitive skin just below his ear has Percy's voice halting before he could speak.

"Tell me who I am, Percy," the intruder whispered into his ear as his hand lowered to cross below Percy's waistline.

* * * * *

Percy woke with a gasping start, covered in sweat and blankets wet with more than that. Upon this realization, his face heated, flushing a brilliant red. He quickly looked across the cabin to where Alima slept, praying to any gods that she had not been woken up. Fate apparently looked kindly on him now and the young girl slept heavily, uninterrupted. After checking on Alima, Percy then prayed that the emotional link between him and Grover didn't involve anything like wet dreams. 

Percy got out of bed, quietly moving to change clothes and bed sheets. Even after he'd done that, he wasn't quite ready to return to bed, more than a little worried that his dream would come back to haunt him again. Though it was already well past curfew, Percy grabbed his shoes and slipped them on before sneaking out of the cabin. There was no way he was going to be able to get back to sleep any time soon.

Tip-toeing carefully through the group of cabins, so as not to bring any attention to himself, Percy headed along the edge of the woods towards the shore. He knew that being closer to the ocean would help him clear his mind, help him forget his dreams. That was exactly what he needed right now.

Once he was past the cabins, Percy picked up the pace, hurrying across the campground towards the beach. Upon reaching the beach, he kicked his shoes off and walked across the sandy shore to the very edge of the water. The moment the waves came against his feet, it felt as though the water washed away all his worries.

For a few minutes, he just stood there, letting the waves come up to him as he stared out over the ocean. Though it was summer, the night air was cool, a light breeze coming in from the ocean, making Percy shiver slightly. He didn't mind though; he'd never really minded. The feel of the waves washing over his feet and the smell of the salt in the air from the ocean calmed him immensely.

After a bit, he waded deeper into the water and sat down under the surface. Because he was the son of Poseidon, his natural abilities allowed him to breathe under water and see clearly, even in the dark. He remained dry, though the cool touch of the water was all over his body. He liked this part of being the son of Poseidon; it gave him something that no one else had.

This allowed him to think clearly, keep his mind off everything except the water and the few fish that swam in the water at night. Because he could breathe underwater, he could easily stay below the surface for a long while. He would have to be careful not to stay too long, though; he had to get back to camp before the patrol harpies figured out he had snuck out.

In the mean time, he allowed his mind to go blank, focusing on nothing. He let his eyes slip shut and simply sat on the sandy bottom of the shallows. His breath slowed as he slipped into a meditative state. He stayed like that for several long minutes before he decided to head back to camp. Surfacing, he waded back out of the water, still dry as he'd been when he'd arrived to the shore.

Percy slipped his shoes back on and hurried back up to camp, keeping alert for any sound that signaled that the harpies had picked up on his scent. He'd reached the cabins before he ran into anyone. He hadn't even seen the other person in the dark, only knowing someone was there when they collided.

Both of them stumbled. Percy managed to keep his balance, but he heard a thump and a quiet yelp of pain from the other person. A few faint words were spoken and a soft glow illuminated the darkness close to him and the other person. With the pale light, Percy could see Tayen, the head counselor for the Hecate cabin pushing herself to her feet.

"Watch where you're going!" the dark girl hissed at him.

Percy bit back a retort and managed to apologize, though somewhat bitterly. "Sorry," he told her quietly. "It wasn't as if I could see you."

Tayen glared at him. "What're you doing out of bed?"

"What are you doing out of bed?" Percy countered.

Tayen's eyes narrowed at him. "It's a new moon out. What do you _think_ I'm doing?"

Percy vaguely recalled that Hecate had once been associated with the moon, before Artemis took over its properties and powers. Even though her mother no longer ruled the moon, Tayen was probably honoring Hecate somehow. The children of Hecate were amongst the few who were allowed out of their cabins after curfew because of some of the rituals that had been part of their mother's worship. Many of them still drew power from the moon's light.

Tayen extinguished the light she'd conjured, though Percy could still see her silhouette. "You'd better get back to your cabin, son of Poseidon."

Percy nodded silently, though he doubted Tayen could see it. "Night."

There was a slight pause before Tayen responded. "Good night, Percy Jackson," she told him, voice softening from its previous harsh tone. "May your dreams be well."

Percy ignored Tayen's last comment as he hurried towards the Poseidon cabin. The last thing he wanted to think about right now was dreams. As he reached the cabin and silently opened the door to slip inside, he prayed that he would not dream again that night. He toed off his shoes as he entered, closing the door behind him, then snuck past Alima, who was still sleeping heavily. He didn't bother changing much, just slipped off the baggy shorts he'd put on before sneaking out, and crawled into bed.

He fell asleep almost as soon as his head hit the pillow.

* * * * *

"Are you alright, brother?" Alima asked. "You do not look as though you have slept well." 

Percy looked up at Alima, who sat across the table from him at breakfast the next morning. He was tired. Even though he'd fallen asleep quickly after returning to the cabin, he had been out of bed for a good part of the night. When he had fallen asleep, it had been a restless sleep. Though he had not dreamt again, he'd woken often.

"I haven't," he mumbled. He poked at his scrambled eggs, not awake enough to feel like eating them.

"Perhaps you should see Chiron?" Alima suggested. "You could ask him for the day off from training. Or you could go to the Apollo cabin for a sleep aid."

Percy shook his head. "I'll be fine."

Alima frowned. She pushed her own breakfast aside. "Do not think that because I am younger than you that I cannot tell a lie when I hear one, Percy. I am worried about you."

"It's nothing," Percy insisted, managing to give Alima a small grin, as if that would confirm what he said.

Alima sighed. "I do not appreciate it when you lie to me. However, I will not push the matter. If you say it is nothing, I will not argue it."

That said, Alima stood up from the table and headed across the pavilion towards the cabins, leaving Percy sitting alone. Percy heaved a sigh and pushed his own breakfast away. Too tired to eat and now miserable because he'd pushed away the only sibling he had near him, he leaned forward, arms crossed on the surface of the table in front of him. With a groan, he let his head thump against his arms.

He wished Annabeth were at camp. He wanted to see her, talk to her. While he could send her an Iris message, it wasn't the same as having her there. Nothing could compare to seeing Annabeth, holding her hand as they talked, the warmth of having her just standing next to him. He wondered if she could take a break from her work to come down and see him again.

Heaving another sigh, Percy lifted his head, his green eyes focusing on the Hermes table across the pavilion. He found himself looking at Luke, which made him frown; he'd been focusing on avoiding Luke for the last several days, why decide to check on the older half-blood now?

Upon looking closer at Luke, Percy was surprised to see how bad the son of Hermes looked this morning. Where Luke had been alert most mornings, today it looked as if he, too, had not slept well. His blue and gold eyes were heavy-lidded and his sandy-blond hair, normally kept in a short ponytail, was loose and tousled, as if he hadn't care what he looked like before leaving the cabin. This was something that immediately sent red flags up in Percy's mind.

He also noticed more of Luke's siblings had started sitting further away from him. Only a handful remained around him, Loki being one of them. A couple of the younger girls, Luke's sisters, stayed with him as well. Percy noted that the Hermes campers sitting with Luke were newer campers, where the ones who were further away were all campers that had been around for a while. The Stoll brothers, heads of the cabin, since Luke hadn't taken that position back, were at the far end, pointedly ignoring the other end of the table.

As Percy recalled, it wasn't just the other Hermes children that were avoiding Luke; he hadn't once seen any of the older campers really get near Luke. Campers who'd once been Luke's friends, before his betrayal, were going out of their way to stay away from the former follower of Kronos. Much like how Percy had been avoiding him.

_Why do I care?_ Percy asked himself. _If they're mad at Luke and don't want to be around him, I don't blame them. Look at what he's done; regardless of if the gods forgave him, we can't._

Luke had destroyed so much in the mere four years that he'd been active with the Titan army. There were too many deaths to count because of the son of Hermes. Not just campers, but Bianca di Angelo, Zöe Nightshade, Daedalus; people who would still be alive today if not for Luke's treachery. Too much sadness, too much pain, came from the things Luke had done.

There was no forgiving that, Percy believed. Not for him, not for so many campers that had lost so much. The gods could give their forgiveness easier than their half-blood children could. As far as Percy could tell, Luke hadn't deserved such easy forgiveness.

Not that there was anything he could do about it. He could only move on.

Percy had intended to continue to avoid Luke, but the older half-blood caught up to him later that day. It was just past noon and Percy had been on his way to the volleyball court to watch today's game between the Apollo and Hebe cabins when Luke stepped into his path. Percy inwardly cursed, knowing that part of what had allowed the other to catch up to him was his lack of proper sleep; his reflexes were all but shot because he was so tired. Resigned, Percy looked up at the taller half-blood.

"What do you want, Luke?" he asked.

"We need to talk," Luke replied. He grabbed Percy by the shoulder and led him towards the top of Half-Blood Hill, where Thalia's tree stood, guarded by Peleus, the dragon. Since Luke's return to Camp Half-Blood, Peleus had been taught to recognize him as a camper and not a danger to the camp.

For a while after they reached Thalia's tree, Luke just sat under the branches of the great pine, leaning against the tree's trunk. Like this, he looked so calm, so much like the Luke that Percy had first met that first summer of his life here at Camp Half-Blood. Luke tilted his head back, so that it bumped gently against the trunk.

"So, I heard Thalia recovered and joined Artemis' hunters?" he asked.

Percy nodded, seating himself a couple feet away. Peleus opened one eye lazily to make sure that neither half-bloods were going to cause any trouble or try to steal the Golden Fleece that hung on one of the branches of Thalia's pine. After he was certain there wouldn't be any problems, Peleus closed his eye again to rest, giving a puff of smoke out his nostrils.

Percy turned his attention back to Luke. "I doubt you brought me over here to talk about Thalia."

Luke gave a sigh, closing his eyes. "No, I didn't," he replied. "Actually, there's something that's been bothering me. I know you can tell me the truth, Percy."

At hearing Luke's comment, a shiver ran down Percy's spine. He wasn't sure if it was Luke's words or Peleus' hot breath against his back, but he was suddenly feeling uncomfortable. Sitting here with Luke, with no one else around but the dragon was probably not the most brilliant idea, he realized.

Luke shifted, sitting upright and looking at Percy. His odd blue and gold eyes met Percy's green ones. That only made Percy more uncomfortable. Looking at Luke would never be something that he could say was comforting, but ever since things had gone down the way they did, there would always be that unsettling, dangerous feel in the air.

"Ever since I got back to camp, things haven't felt right," he told Percy. "I can't explain it, but there's something not right about camp. At first I thought it was just because things had changed so much while I was gone, but it's not that. It's not what's changed, Percy. I think it's me."

Percy's breath caught in his throat. He was reminded too much of the time Luke took him to the woods to gloat about his betrayal. He half-expect the older half-blood to summon another Pit scorpion to sic on him. "What are you talking about, Luke?" he asked, trying to remain nonchalant.

"I'm talking about how everyone looks at me," Luke answered, eyes narrowed slightly. "You included. You all look at me like I'm something to be pitied. Just like after my first quest."

Luke raised his hand to his right cheek, letting one finger trace the ragged scar that ran from his eye to his jaw. "I hated that," he added, focusing on the camp behind Percy. "I hate the misery that comes from pity. What's worse is, this time, there's no reason to feel sorry for me."

"Luke, stop," Percy said sharply. He did not like where this was going.

Luke ignored him. "I'm missing something, Percy. There's more going on than what I was told. Something happened in the last four years and I don't think it was my getting caught by some stupid trap in a casino."

He turned his gaze back to the teenager he sat with. "What really happened to me, Percy?"

"I don't know," Percy lied.

"Tell me the truth!"

Percy flinched away from the sheer anger in Luke's voice. The words echoed those in his dreams, though with none of the seduction that had been present in the last dream. There was no way it was coincidence that Luke spoke almost the exact words that had been haunting Percy in his dreams. His dreams had been a warning after all, a warning that Luke was catching on.

"I know you know the truth, Percy Jackson," Luke said, voice low and threatening. "I _will_ get an answer from you."

Percy stood abruptly, glaring down at Luke, who remained seated. "No. You won't."

Luke stood up as well, stepping close to Percy. His eyes flashed, more gold than blue for a brief moment. "There's a tapestry of lies covering this camp. You and I, we're on the fringe, Percy. I want answers and you're the key to unraveling the lies."

His arm snapped forward, grabbing Percy's orange Camp Half-Blood t-shirt and pulling the younger man towards him. Their faces were mere inches apart as Luke glared at Percy. "Think about that, Perseus Jackson."

Behind Percy, Peleus growled lowly. Luke looked past Percy to see that the dragon had risen from his nap and was crouched, ready to strike if either half-blood made a wrong move. Luke gave a 'tch' and dropped Percy, pivoting on his heel to go back to camp. Peleus growled again as Luke passed him, eyes moving to watch the blond young man. Once Luke was out of sight, Peleus turned his gaze to Percy, narrowing his eyes as the son of Poseidon.

Percy raised his hands as if to tell Peleus to calm down. "I'm going," he told the dragon. "I'm going."

With that, Percy headed towards camp, making sure to keep as far away from Luke as humanly possible. He should have known better than to go with Luke. He should have paid more attention to his dreams - _maybe not that last one, though_ , he thought.

There was no doubt about it now; the oath that had been sworn was not enough. Luke was asking questions, trying to puzzle out what had really happened to him. He'd even gone as far as trying to force an answer out of Percy. It was only a matter of time before the truth came out. Percy had to talk to Chiron about this now, before it got out of hand.

As he headed for the archery range to find Chiron, Luke's words echoed in his mind.

_"Tapestry of lies…"_

_"You and I, we're on the fringe, Percy."_

_"You're the key."_


	3. Chapter 3

Chiron had called for a meeting of the cabin counselors as soon as Percy had told him what had happened. He'd taken precautions to call in only those who knew of Luke's past, so as not to get the newer campers involved with the difficulties of the secret held tightly in the camp. Percy sat at the large table in the Big House, surrounded by other cabin counselors. Amongst them were familiar faces - Malcolm, head of the Athena cabin; Will Solace, son of Apollo; Katie Gardner, daughter of Demeter. Tayen, the daughter of Hecate that Percy kept running into, was there as well.

Nico was there, being the only one in the Hades cabin. He'd been busy the last couple of weeks, trying to get himself settled in, so this was the first time Percy had actually seen him since coming to camp. Clarisse and Chris were seated on the other end of the table, away from the others. Clarisse was never well accepted by the other campers, but as the head of the Ares cabin, she needed to be there. Chris was there as support for her. The Stoll brothers were there, wearing twin expressions of concern - the group was gathered to talk about their brother, after all. Drew, who had taken Silena's place as counselor of the Aphrodite cabin, now sat next to Will. Other counselors were there, half-bloods whose names Percy did not know, but recognized vaguely from previous summers. 

Chiron and Dionysus both sat at the end of the table. While Chiron wore an expression of grave worry, Dionysus was paying almost no attention to the gathered camp counselors; he sat in his chair, flipping through a food and wine magazine. Percy inwardly wondered why Mr. D had bothered even coming to the meeting in the first place. This wasn't the first time that this had been the case. 

"We have a situation, as you all have likely gathered," Chiron announced as soon as all the counselors had settled. "All who sit here today will remember the oath we took at the end of last summer."

All around the table, counselors nodded or made begrudging acknowledgment of Chiron's words. They knew exactly what oath the centaur was speaking about, of course. With the exception of Clarisse, Chris and Drew, they all had the same solemn expression on their faces. There was no hard guess what the meeting had been called for.

"Luke Castellan, as you know, was redeemed by his last actions during the final battle against Kronos," Chiron continued. "He was brought back to Camp Half-Blood at the request of his father, on the condition that his memories were wiped clean and an oath taken to keep him from knowing the truth. Unfortunately, despite the efforts made, he has begun questioning."

"And this means what, exactly?" Amber asked from her seat. She tapped her fingers impatiently on the table, manicured nails clacking against the surface. "Even if he's asking, none of us can tell him anything."

"What it means," Will spoke up, "is he knows something's up. That alone is something to worry about."

"He may not need us to tell him," Tayen added from her seat. She was leaning back in her chair, one leg crossed over the other. Her right arm was propped up on her knee as she toyed with one of her long necklaces. "Many of the minor gods who sided with the Titan lord may yet speak to him."

"Your mother included," Drew pointed out, earning herself a dark glower from the daughter of Hecate. "She still doesn't completely side with the Olympian gods, despite her recognition here." 

"Neither does my father," Nico said from where he sat next to Percy. "The fact that they do not 'fully side with the Olympians' doesn't mean they would tell Luke anything. It wasn't just the campers who swore upon the Styx."

"Exactly," Chiron told Nico. "Several of the minor gods are under the same oath. Others could not be bothered to get involved with Luke again."

Amongst those who had sworn the oath had been Eris, the goddess of Discord; she had not been particularly pleased with having taken the oath, of course. She would have much rather had the chance to use Luke's past against him to cause trouble. There were gods that had not taken the oath because they had not been involved in the fight, preferring to remain neutral until the last minute. 

As Percy thought about this, about the oath and its aftermath, he began to see things from Luke’s perspective. Luke had said something about the way everyone looked at him - like he was to be pitied. Only now, after the fact, had Percy really understood what the older half-blood had meant. Everyone here, with the exception of a few, avoided Luke, shunned him, and, yes, pitied him. With his memories gone, there was no way for Luke to understand _why_ things were like this. 

Luke was right; camp had changed, especially for him. He'd once been one of the most admired campers and, as far as he knew, things were just suddenly different. Suddenly, Percy was the most admired and Luke was the camp outcast. 

It was little wonder why Luke had started asking questions. 

"So, what are going to do about it?" Tayen asked, bringing Percy back into the conversation.

Will spoke up. "At this point, I’m not sure what we _can_ do about it."

Chiron crossed his arms over his chest. "William is right. As things stand now, there is nothing we can do." 

"What about Mr. D?" Drew inquired. She looked at the wine god. "Can't you do something about him? Minds are your specialty, aren’t they?"

Dionysus gave a derisive snort. "My dear, _madness_ is my specialty. And in Mr. Castellan's case, there is no madness, only confusion." He turned back to his magazine, casually flipping through the pages. "Besides, I didn't want him back here in the first place. Why should I help him?"

Thunder rolled outside and Dionysus rolled his eyes, grumbling under his breath. "Yes, yes, I was out-voted."

The room fell silent, with most of the group trying to come up with some way to help Luke. Percy fidgeted in his seat; he hated sitting still, particularly sitting still in silence. He wasn't the only one, either. Tayen was fiddling with her necklace again, running her pendant along the silver chain. Will had pulled out a piece of wood that he had been carving into a small musical instrument. Drew toyed with a compact, flipping it open and closed.

"We've just been ignoring the issue," she said. "Can’t we just do that again?"

Now Percy spoke up. "Haven't you been paying attention?" he asked, a hint of anger in his voice. "That's the problem! The reason why Luke's looking into things is _because_ we've all been avoiding him!"

"Percy has a point," Nico agreed. "I know what it's like to be on the outside, looking in. That's how Luke feels. Our ignoring him is not helping him in any way."

"This still doesn't give us any options for what to do," Travis pointed out. "We can't tell him anything, we can't ignore him. So what do we do?"

"I don't know," Percy admitted, sinking down in his chair. 

"I think we should send him away from camp," Clarisse finally spoke from where she sat. Her voice was bitter and angry, as Percy expected. "It would solve a lot of our problems!"

"Nobody asked you!" Drew snapped at her. 

Clarisse glared at the daughter of Aphrodite. "This meeting was to address the head counselors who were there! I'm amongst those, whether you like it or not! I'm allowed to have my opinion!"

"Not when that opinion's only going to cause _more_ problems!"

Clarisse rose from her seat, looking all the world like she was going to throttle the Asian girl. Chris quickly stood up to hold her back. He knew Clarisse's temper was short and the way Drew acted was not helping at all. He looked apologetically towards Chiron. 

"Excuse us," he said before turning to Clarisse and speaking to her softly. He then led her out of the room.

Drew gave a huff and flipped her black curls over her shoulders. "Well!"

"Don't act so heartless," Tayen told her. "You know she's angry at Luke for what happened to Silena."

Drew glared at her, a scathing look that nearly matched Clarisse's. "Don't talk to me about Silena! She was a traitor!"

"She was your sister and a hero!" Clarisse countered, ready pummel the daughter of Aphrodite for speaking of Silena that way. "She sacrificed her life to get the Ares cabin in the battle!"

"She was a spy for Kronos' army! I don't care what anyone says about her, she betrayed us!"

"STOP IT!" Percy shouted, effectively silencing the argument between the three girls. "This is _not_ why we're here! We're _here_ to decide what to do about Luke, not fight against each other!"

The group was silent, no one daring to speak for a long moment. Percy settled back, anger coursing through his blood. Camp had started out so well this summer and now things were spiraling out of control. First Clarisse had arrived with her grudge against Luke, then Luke had started delving into his past and now there were fights going on over the alignments in a battle that had ended a year ago.

Dionysus gave a mock sigh and closed his magazine. "I see this meeting is going nowhere," he said. He shifted and stood up. "If no one minds, I'm going to leave before all you brats give me a headache."

With that, the wine god left, to Zeus knew where - possibly to wrangle up some pinochle opponents to waste the afternoon with. Silence continued for a minute longer after the departure of the camp director. No one was quite sure what to do or say; Dionysus had been right about the meeting going nowhere.

Finally, Will spoke up. "I move that we slowly start bringing Luke back into the camp circle."

"Easy for you to say," Conner said. "You’ve already befriended him."

Will gave a shrug. "Apollo and Hermes have been friends for centuries. It's only natural for a son of Apollo to get along with a son of Hermes. I'm more worried that you two," here, he indicated both Stoll brothers, "have been so bitter against your own half-brother."

"We have our reasons," Travis told him. "It's none of your business."

Tayen cleared her throat to cut off any argument that might start up. "I second Will's motion. If we can get the campers to accept Luke, even slowly, he might settle. He may still wonder what's happening, what he's missing, but it may slow his inquiries."

There were nods around the table, from Will, Percy, Nico and Malcolm, as well as a few others who had remained silent throughout the meeting. Chiron raised his right hand.

"Those in favor?"

* * * * *

Percy did not see Luke at dinner that night. Alima, still upset with him from earlier, sat at the opposite end of the table, turned so that she could speak with one of her friends from the Demeter table behind her. Percy picked at his food, unable to eat. He eventually dropped his fork onto his plate and pushed his food away. While he couldn't leave before Dionysus released the campers to go to the campfire, he could at least prop his arms on the table to look around himself. 

With the tables rearranged, closer together and no longer the Olympian 'u' shape, it was easier to get a full view of the number of campers. The Olympian tables were still in the order they'd been in, but where they had once been arranged in a 'u' shape, they were now neat rows. Hades' table, occupied alone by Nico, had been moved up, next to Poseidon's table, so that the tables of the Big Three were together, making Hades and his children seem accepted into the Olympian circle. 

Percy looked across the pavilion, looking at the new tables. He could see Tayen at the Hecate table with her sisters. At the Hebe table, he could see a few of the newer campers enjoying their dinner. He saw Emma and Ella at the Aura table, their backs to him as they chatted with their siblings. Their pinkies were hooked behind them, Emma's left and Ella's right. No one at the table seemed to mind; it was probably just a twin thing. 

There were too many tables to look at all of them. Many of them were hidden from Percy's sight, lost in the crowd. The dining pavilion had been rebuilt in order to fit them all, but many of the tables were sparsely populated. Some of the children of the minor gods had been at camp the whole time Percy had been, living with the Hermes cabin until the decree that all gods had to claim their children. After that, over half the Hermes cabin had been sorted into the various new cabins. Percy could recognize some of them from the time he’d spent in the Hermes cabin several years ago. 

Looking around him now, Percy realized just how much camp had really and truly changed. Again, he was trying to see things from Luke's perspective. It was probably daunting for the older half-blood. As far as Luke knew, he'd left when there were but twelve tables, not all of them filled. Now, there were twice as many, at least. For someone who was returning to camp after all the changes, it would definitely be sort of intimidating. 

Percy realized, too, how it affected Luke to see so many of his friends from before and not have any connection to them anymore. Even with the newer campers that admired Luke now, to lose the respect of half the camp, it would be lonely, confusing and, above all else, frustrating, especially when Luke didn't remember anything to tell him why. 

_Luke doesn't need us avoiding him right now,_ Percy thought, as his revelation echoed through his mind. _He doesn't need pity or isolation. He needs someone to help him._

He'd been selfish, Percy realized. By avoiding Luke, he was thinking of himself, looking out for himself. He hadn't thought of how Luke would feel. Putting himself into Luke's shoes, so to speak, he could see just how unfair everyone had been treating the recovered son of Hermes. Admittedly, he thought before that Luke didn't deserve the second chance he'd been given, but now he saw that, too, had been selfish of him. Again, he'd been thinking of himself, what he'd lost or nearly lost. 

_Maybe I **should** give Luke another chance_ , he mused. He thought about how much he'd liked Luke when the two of them had first met. True, Luke had been planning the whole time to get him killed, start a war against the Olympians, but Percy hadn't known that then. 

Percy remembered thinking of how cool Luke was then. How much Luke made Percy feel like he belonged, like he had found another family to care for him until he could get his mother back. Luke had been so good to him, teaching him how to handle a sword, showing him things around the camp. Just hanging out with Luke then had been fun. Deep down, Percy missed those days, before Luke betrayed them all. 

Thinking about then and how Luke was now, Percy decided, despite the fact that Luke had been so threatening towards him earlier, that it was high time to let the past be the past. It was time to give Luke that second chance that he’d earned in the gods' eyes. He wasn't sure it was the brightest idea, all considering his recent...dream, but he had to stop thinking of himself. 

When Dionysus released the campers to head for the campfire, Percy hung back at the table for a minute, letting everyone go before him. When the last of the campers had filed towards the campfire, Percy, instead, headed for the cabins. He hurried across the grounds, zigzagging through the numerous cabins until he spotted Cabin Eleven, the Hermes cabin. Hoping that Luke was there and not out somewhere else, Percy hurried up the steps to the door and knocked loudly.

"Luke?" he called after a minute of no response. 

From inside the cabin, Percy heard movement, a shuffling and then the sound of steady footsteps. A moment later, the door opened and Luke appeared. The older half-blood looked exhausted, ruffled, as if he'd just crawled out of bed. His blue and gold eyes were half-lidded and his hair was tousled.

"Oh. Percy," he greeted, sounding nonchalant, like their encounter that afternoon hadn't happened at all. "Hey, come in."

Percy nodded and took a cautious step into the cabin. When it didn't appear that Luke was going to attack him or anything, Percy turned to him, ready to speak. However, the other beat him to the punch.

"Hey, sorry about this afternoon," Luke said. "I hope I didn't freak you out or anything. I've just been having a bad week."

"Y-yeah," Percy replied. "Actually, I wanted to talk you about this afternoon."

Luke didn't even flinch. Instead, he gestured for Percy to follow him, which the teen did. Luke led Percy through the cabin, which was so much cleaner and roomier now that the Hermes cabin had been properly sorted, over to his bed. 

"Feel free to sit," Luke told him. "Don't mind the clutter."

Percy noted Luke's armor and other possessions thrown over the surface of the bed. He shifted a few things aside so he could seat himself without sitting on something. Luke crouched down and rummaged around under the bed for a moment before pulling out a couple cans of Coca Cola. Knowing that Luke was a son of Hermes, Percy didn't doubt that the older half-blood had sneaked out of camp to retrieve it and probably had a full stash of similar mortal goodies tucked under his bed. 

Luke handed Percy one of the Cokes before popping his own open and taking a long, slow drink. After he did that, he casually sat next to Percy.

"So, you wanted to talk?"

Percy held his Coke can in his hands, trying to think of the best way to explain his thinking to Luke. "I was thinking about what you said earlier. About everyone, about me, treating you differently." He looked up at the older half-blood. "I'm sorry."

Luke paused to study Percy. For a moment, it didn't look as if Luke were going to accept any apology that Percy offered. His duo-tone eyes focused on the younger half-blood, their piercing gaze searching him for something, perhaps a sign that Percy was hesitant or false in his apology. Percy was still, holding in his breath and trying to force down the nagging voice in his mind that whispered about the dreams he'd been having. 

It was almost a full minute before Luke spoke again. "Apology accepted."

Percy blinked. Really? Just like that? He let go of the breath he'd been holding. "You're not mad, still?"

Luke gave a shrug. "Yeah, I am, but you're at least making an effort to fix things. That's why you're really here, isn't it?"

"Well, kinda," Percy replied, giving a nod. "Yeah."

"Then that's a step forward." Luke leaned back, propping himself up with one arm. He flashed Percy a grin. "I still have a question for you."

Percy stared at him. Depending on the question, he wasn't sure how he'd respond. He was still under oath and couldn't speak of Luke's past. Coming here had been a step towards mending things between the two of them, but even then, there were lines he couldn't cross. 

"Shoot," he said, hoping for the best.

Luke looked back at him. Once again, their eyes met and, this time, Percy felt a sharp, warm feeling in his gut. The feeling wasn't unlike the sensation he felt when he summoned the waters, but it was deeper than that. He noticed, a little worriedly, that his breath had hitched and his heart skipped a beat. He froze, taking a moment to force down the blush that he could feel trying to take over his face. 

_What is **wrong** with me? _ Percy questioned himself. _Why am I acting like I'm **attracted** to Luke? _

"Percy? Did you hear me?"

Percy looked up at Luke and realized that he'd been so preoccupied with his thoughts that he’d completely missed whatever Luke had asked. "S-sorry," he stammered, feeling the blush spread over his face in embarrassment. "What did you say?"

"I asked you why you chose now to say this to me," Luke told him. 

Percy scrunched his nose in confusion. "Why now?" he repeated. He paused for a moment, then gave a shrug. "Why not now?" 

Luke gave a frown, obviously not quite satisfied with the circumnavigated answer Percy had given him. He seemed to let it go, though, lifting his drink to his lips again. Percy took the opportunity to pop his own Coke open and drink from it, relishing in the cool taste, the feel of the carbon bubbles on his tongue and the rush of sugar in his mouth. 

"So," Percy said after a long moment of silence. "How come you weren't at dinner?"

Luke finished off his Coke and tossed the can into a bin a couple feet away from his bed. "Slept right through it," he replied. "I've been having trouble sleeping lately. I keep having these weird dreams."

Percy paused. "Dreams?"

The older half-blood gave a nod. "Yeah. In them, I'm walking through camp, but there's nobody there. Not until I get to...well, it changes; the lake, the beach, the arena. There's someone else there when I reach wherever the dream takes me. I always ask the same question: who am I?"

"And?" 

Percy already knew what Luke was going to say next. The dreams were too familiar, too much like the ones he'd been having. He just wanted to hear Luke tell him what happened next. Luke looked straight at him, his eyes once again that unsettling gold-flecked blue.

"You never say anything."

* * * * *

After confirming that Luke was having the same dreams as he was, Percy excused himself from the Hermes cabin to retire to his own cabin. By the time he'd left and gotten to Cabin Three, campfire was over and the rest of the campers were heading for the cabins. Percy paused long enough to apologize to Alima for that morning before changing for bed. Alima crawled into bed as Percy went to switch the lights off. She almost instantly nodded off from a long day, but when Percy got into bed, he stayed awake. 

Admittedly, he wasn't sure he wanted to go to sleep at all. He was a little wary of having more dreams. Though Percy had decided to give Luke another chance, he was definitely not ready to have any deep connection to the son of Hermes, especially any connection that led to a relationship. He'd just broken up with Annabeth a few months ago and had every intention of getting back together with her once the rebuilding of Olympus was finished, or at least getting close to being finished. 

Still, even as he thought of this now, Percy also thought of how his body had reacted earlier, when he was near Luke. That had definitely been more than an unsettling feeling; he'd actually been turned on by the way Luke had looked at him. He wasn't sure if that had been because of the recent dreams or something else. Whichever it was, Percy wasn't sure he was comfortable with it. He wasn't attracted to Luke, not in the slightest. In fact, he'd hated Luke for the last few years. 

Then why was he having such suggestive dreams about the older half-blood? 

What about Luke? Why was Luke having dreams that mirrored Percy’s own? On the one hand, Percy could sort of understand; Luke was looking for answers and he had those answers. On the other hand, Percy wasn't sure just how closely Luke's dreams reflected his own. There were certain things you just didn't ask someone and whether they were having wet dreams of you was probably up there in the top five. 

Percy sat up after a while, looking towards the fountain in the corner. It had been repaired some time ago and once again ran, lit from within and providing an endless source of mist that Percy could use to summon Iris in order to send a message to anyone he needed to speak to. Right now, Percy needed to speak to someone about what had been happening. 

Getting out of bed, the son of Poseidon grabbed a golden drachma from the bedside table where he kept a small stash of coins, just for this sort of use. He crossed the cabin quietly, so as not to wake Alima. It wasn't really necessary to keep quiet; Alima was a pretty heavy sleeper for a young girl. However, Percy had learned firsthand a few days ago how much the girl didn't like being woken up. 

Percy stood in front of the fountain for a long minute, running his thumb over the drachma in his palm. He wanted to talk to someone, but who could he talk to? He really wanted to talk about Luke and how things were with him and there were only so many people who would understand. There was no way Percy could talk to Annabeth about the new developments with Luke -- she would take things the wrong way for sure. Calling Thalia was out of the question; it would be the same with her as it would be with Annabeth. He couldn't call his mother because, though he trusted her with just about anything else, this was something he didn't really want to talk to his mother about. 

He thought briefly of calling his father, but he wasn't sure that was much different from calling his mother. Besides, Poseidon was probably still busy with the rebuilding of his own kingdom; the Storm Bringer's kingdom had been severely damaged in the battle a year ago and it would be a long time before Poseidon had it back up to par. Calling Tyson wouldn't be much help either, since Percy didn't want to have to deal with the confusion his half-brother would certainly feel and, frankly, Tyson wouldn't be his first or last choice to talk in depth with about Luke or the dreams the two of them had been having.

Percy sat down in front of the fountain, staring at the water that fell from the sprout. He was out of options. There was no one he could talk to about this. He propped his elbow on his knee and let his chin fall into his hand as he watched the fountain, absently.

A soft knocking at the cabin door caught his attention a few minutes later. Percy jerked and scrambled to stand up. He briefly wondered who could possibly be at the door so late - it had to be nearing midnight by now, maybe past; lights were usually out by eleven and Percy had been awake for a while since then. Stepping over to the door, Percy opened it and was a little surprised to see Grover standing outside.

"You know, if you need to talk, you can always call for me," the satyr told him, giving Percy a hurt look. 

"I didn't think this was something you'd want to talk about," Percy admitted. 

"Perrrrcy," Grover bleated softly in exasperation. "You're my best friend; if something's bothering you, I'm always there to talk."

Percy nodded and gestured for Grover to come into the cabin. If they were going to talk, it would be better for both of them to be inside. Grover stepped into the cabin and headed for one of the empty bunks close to the door. Percy sat on the bunk next to it so he could face Grover. 

"So, how much do you know already?" Percy asked. "I bet that empathy link between us has given you an idea."

Grover gave a snort. "A little more than an 'idea', Percy. But, you know, being a Lord of the Wild has its perks; I'm stronger now, so I can control the link."

Percy flinched at the implications in what his friend had just said. "So you saw?"

"Let's not talk about that part right now," Grover said hurriedly. Percy could see a blush crawl over Grover's face, which was enough of an answer for him. "You've been thinking about Luke all day. For the last couple of days."

"Yeah, it's kind of hard not to," Percy told him. "Between the dreams and him cornering me for answers, you know. I just need someone to talk to about things."

"So talk."

Percy told him everything; at least, the things he thought were important. He told Grover about the encounter at Thalia's tree, about the meeting and Percy's realizations at dinner. He made sure to tell him about going to see Luke after dinner and the fact that Luke was also having dreams that echoed Percy's. He finished the conversation off by mentioning that he was trying now to be Luke's friend. 

"You sure that's a good idea?" Grover asked. "I mean, with your past with him. He's tried to kill you dozens of times, remember?"

" _He_ doesn't remember that," Percy pointed out. "He doesn't remember anything that happened. Asclepius made sure of that. I don't know about anyone else, but I think it's worth trying."

"Percy, I'm not sure of that. What if just by being his friend, you start reminding him of things from before?"

"It's not like I'm going to tell him anything," Percy said. "The oath on the Styx, remember?"

Grover shook his head. "You can't _say_ anything, but what you _do_ might bring back memories. Asclepius anointed him with water from the Lethe, but that doesn't have the full effect of the river of Forgetfulness, which might be why Luke knows something's up."

"So you're saying we need to just go on ignoring Luke?"

"I'm _saying_ you need to be careful, Percy," Grover corrected him. "Luke knows you're the key to unlocking his memories. He might try to force you to tell him."

Percy thought about that. It was probably dangerous for both him and Luke for them to be friends, but as Percy thought about it, he knew that it was a risk he was willing to take. Whether anyone else would agree with him or not, it didn't matter to him. He wanted to give Luke a second chance and, maybe, get things back to how they used to be. 

"Maybe I'll get lucky," Percy said. "If the campers accept Luke again, maybe he won't need to know his past. I'm willing to take a chance."

Grover gave a sigh. "If you're sure. I can't stop you. But one last thing, Percy."

Percy looked at him. "What?"

"These dreams you two have been having? They could be a warning _against_ a friendship between you two."

"I know," Percy nodded. "But again, I'm willing to take the chance."

Grover gave a nod in return, then let the topic drop. He bade goodnight to Percy and headed back out of the cabin. After the conversation with Grover, Percy did feel better and decided to go to back to bed. Though he was a bit wary of his dreams, he remembered something Apollo had told him; there was no need to be afraid of dreams. 

As Percy crawled into bed, he let his eyes slip shut and curled up under the blankets. He'd let the dreams come.


	4. Chapter 4

June was coming to a close and Percy had spent the better half of the last week with Luke. Because the Poseidon cabin currently only hosted Percy and Alima, they were often put into lessons and activities with other cabins. Occasionally, they were also joined by Nico, since he was on his own. More often than not, the two (or three) of them joined the Hermes cabin for activities. 

With the addition of so many new campers and cabins, Chiron had added several new activities to the line up. The children of Demeter ran a greenhouse with the children of Antheia, goddess of flowers. Rumor had it the plants grown in the greenhouse were sold to florists in the nearby cities to add to the income already brought in from the sales of the strawberries grown by the satyrs and Dionysus' kids. When it came to the usual javelin-throwing lessons from the Ares cabin, there was a complementary staff-fighting course taught by the children of Enyo, a war goddess and sister to Ares. The Hecate cabin occasionally gave lessons on spells anyone could use for protection and minor healing. 

Camp was once again busy with training, without the worry of attack. Campers enjoyed their days, learning to harness their abilities, physical and otherwise. Dinners were fun again, sacrifices to the gods sent up with earnest thanks and campfire songs were sung until the fire was burning high, hot and colorful. It was easy to get back into the feel of how camp had first been when Percy came nearly five years ago. 

It was a hot day, sun beating down at the camp when Luke finally got Percy to take him on in a match. The Hermes and Poseidon cabins had teamed up for sword practice in the arena that day. Luke and Percy were supposed to be showing their cabin mates a few key moves before letting everyone pair up to practice. Luke held a sword he'd had the Hephaestus kids forge for him, balanced almost perfectly for the young man's grip. Percy, of course, chose to wield Riptide. He'd been through too much with the sword to ever take up a different blade. 

The lessons had started with Luke explaining different moves to the onlookers. Of course, one of the younger campers called out for a demonstrative match between the two of them. So, with no excuse to back out of it, Percy found himself facing Luke, his long-time enemy with whom he was slowly building a renewed friendship. While he was wary about fighting him, even in a practice match, Percy readied himself, focusing on Luke and watching for the older half-blood's first move. 

He'd done this several times before. Luke shot forward, taking the offensive while Percy took defense. Battle instincts that Percy had honed over the years took over and he had no trouble fending off Luke's attacks. He could tell from the way Luke watched him that the blond man was impressed by how much he'd improved. 

The group of campers watching cheered them on, the guys riled up the way most men were during any sporting event and the girls swooning, over Luke or Percy or both. Even those who were apprehensive about Luke, knowing his involvement with Kronos, were cheering, forgetting, for the time being, their distrust of their half-brother. Alima, of course, cheered for her own half-brother.

Percy paid the onlookers no mind. He was focused only on Luke. The older half-blood had always been the better swordsman, so Percy couldn't let himself be distracted. He parried against Luke's attacks, blocked others with his sword and shield. The metallic clangs from the swords clashing together echoed across the arena over the sound of the cheering from the crowd as the two young men sparred.

In the middle of the match, Percy noticed something different in Luke's moves. It wasn't something that was easy to catch; he doubted anyone noticed besides himself. The change was so subtle, but Percy could sense that Luke wasn't giving the fight his usual strength or determination. It was almost as if the older half-blood was puzzled by something. The fierceness that was typically in Luke's gaze when he fought was gone, replaced by a look of confusion. 

Percy hesitated, caught off guard by the change in Luke. This turned out to be a mistake on the son of Poseidon's part, as Luke lunged forward, moving in quickly to disarm Percy and shove him to the ground. Percy found himself pinned beneath Luke, blade against his throat with the older half-blood's face just inches from his own. 

A fierce blush took over Percy's face at the realization of just how close Luke was to him. He could feel Luke's hand pressing against his chest, warmth emanated from the spot where the older demigod's hand rested. Those blue and gold eyes were all Percy could see and he couldn't seem to pull himself away from them. Memories of seeing those eyes, fully gold, staring into his own in past battles, rose to Percy's mind and he almost let those memories take him over and take him back to the previous summer when it took all he had to fight against Kronos in Luke's body. 

"Perce," Luke said, just softly enough for only Percy to hear his voice. There was that familiar smirk again, spread over Luke's lips just within Percy's line of sight. "You shouldn't let your opponent distract you."

If it were possible, Percy was sure his face would turn even redder. He placed his hands on Luke's chest and shoved him off. Luke, smirk still in place, shifted to stand, bringing his sword from its place against Percy's throat. He turned to the gathered campers to explain the disarming move that he’d used against Percy, acting as if nothing had happened.

Percy, as he stood up, knew better. That look in Luke's eyes hadn't been some trick to try to confuse him; it had been genuine puzzlement. Their match had triggered something, of that, Percy was certain. Exactly what, he couldn’t know. He had his suspicions and he wasn't quite sure what he could do about it now. 

Deciding to let it go for the time being, Percy turned to help instruct the campers. Luke had already split the group in two so they could both work with a smaller group. Percy's group was eager to get to work, so he let them partner up and start. Most of them had been to the previous sword training sessions, so they were working on more advanced techniques, but there were a few stragglers. Percy worked with those campers first, letting everyone else practice at their own pace for the remainder of the hour.

As the hour moved on, Percy kept looking towards Luke. The son of Hermes kept himself busy, helping with his half-siblings and shouting advice over the noise of blade clashing against blade and shield. All the while, he acted as though nothing odd had happened. Percy, however, could not get his mind off the look he’d seen in Luke's eyes. 

"Percy?" Alima called not long after the lesson had ended. "We are scheduled to go to the beach with the naiads next and we will be late if you do not hurry."

Percy looked over to her with confusion, having lost himself in his thoughts. He remembered a moment later that, yes, they had managed to get an hour at the beach into their schedule. "Oh, go ahead without me. I'll catch up."

Alima gave a slight frown, but made no other objection. One of the Demeter girls that she’d made friends with during her stay at camp hurried over to walk with her to the beach, giving Percy the chance he needed to catch up with Luke. The older half-blood was picking up equipment that had been tossed aside without care the moment the lesson was over. 

"Need a hand?" Percy asked. 

Luke looked up and, just for a brief moment, that same puzzled look from earlier graced his eyes. "Oh. Sure, yeah."

Percy picked up a couple of swords that laid on the ground. "So, uh, how's it going?"

Luke gave a shrug. "I've had worse lessons. What about you?"

"Same old, same old," Percy replied. With an armful of swords, he headed towards the equipment pit where all swords, shields and armor were supposed to be kept when they weren't being used. Once he had everything put away, he turned back around to find Luke standing right in front of him. "Uh…"

"What exactly are you hiding from me?" Luke asked, blue-gold eyes narrowed slightly at the younger half-blood. "A week ago, you came and told me you're sorry for avoiding me, we start acting like friends again and, just now, during our match - "

Percy hesitated. "What happened during the match?"

Luke turned his back on Percy. "I don't know. It was just a feeling. The way you and I fought…it felt familiar. Like we'd fought before, but not in a friendly match like today."

Percy kept his mouth shut, though his thoughts were running through his mind with explanations. He wanted to speak up, wanted to help Luke, but with the oath he'd taken, he couldn't. This was the first time since taking the oath that he honestly regretted taking it. In the last week, though it was a short time, he'd gotten used to treating Luke as a friend again. He wanted to help Luke; he thought that, perhaps, a little bit of help would be been enough, if Luke's memories hadn't been erased.

"Percy," Luke spoke up, cutting into Percy's thoughts. "Have I…done anything to hurt you?"

Percy looked up at Luke. The older half-blood had turned back around to face him and Percy could see a sort of pain in the blond’s eyes. That alone surprised Percy; even before Luke had turned out to be a traitor, Percy had always seen him as someone almost insusceptible to pain. To see Luke in pain now was just another eye-opener for the younger half-blood.

Percy realized that Luke was waiting for an answer still and chose his next words carefully. "Not intentionally," he told him. Which, he supposed, was partially true; when Luke's body had been taken over by Kronos, the son of Hermes hadn’t had control over his actions. Then again, hadn't Luke intentionally given himself over to Kronos in order to get rid of Percy?

Luke studied him for a moment, looking at the younger man for any sign that he was being lied to. If he found any, he didn't say anything. Instead, he just placed his hands on his hips and gave a sigh with a shake of his head. 

"I just wish I knew what it was about you," he said, finally. 

Percy raised an eyebrow. "What do you mean?"

Luke waved him off. "Nothing, nothing. I'll talk to you later, Perce. You'd better hurry to the beach."

Percy hesitated, frowned, then slowly turned to head for the beach. He wanted to know what Luke was thinking, why he seemed to be so moody around him. They'd talked about the dreams (some of them, anyways), they'd started rebuilding their friendship. What else could there be?

* * * * * 

"So, Annabeth, you're coming to camp for the Fourth?" Percy asked his ex-girlfriend later that night. 

Annabeth nodded, her image shimmering in the mist of the Iris-message. "I wouldn't miss the annual fireworks display!" she told him. "Construction is going so well that I think I've earned a little break. And, besides, I miss camp."

"Even though you’re up on Olympus, partying with the muses when you’re off-duty?" Percy asked, a slight teasing tone in his voice. 

Annabeth frowned at him. "Don't get me wrong, Seaweed Brain, Olympus is great, but my home is down there, with you and Grover and Chiron."

Though she hadn't said it, Percy knew that Annabeth counted Luke in the group, as well. To Annabeth, Luke had always meant home. Again, the jealousy Percy had always felt whenever Annabeth spoke of Luke or implied that she was talking about the older half-blood rose up in his chest. However, tonight, it felt somewhat…different. Oh, certainly, he was angry that Luke was in Annabeth's mind all the time, but it wasn't that Percy was angry that she was thinking of Luke, instead of him.

Percy was angry that Annabeth was thinking of Luke at all. 

"Percy? Did you hear me?"

Percy pushed down his anger. He wasn't sure why he was angry in the first place. He knew Annabeth would always love Luke, but she had long since given up on him to settle for Percy. That thought had Percy angry all over again and, this time, he couldn't push it down very far. 

"Yes, I heard you," he lied. "I've got to go. Talk to you on the fourth."

Annabeth raised an eyebrow. "I said I'd be there tomorrow."

"Tomorrow. Yeah. Whatever."

Percy waved his hand through the mist made by the fountain to cut the connect of the Iris message. Too angry with Annabeth to go to bed and, with time before everyone had to go to bed, Percy left the cabin. He decided to go to the Hecate cabin across the way to talk to one of the girls there about getting an elixir to calm himself down before lights out. While the Hecate girls, a proper coven of thirteen, were known by the camper for their spells, their charms and potions were also well-known to be useful for everything from an upset stomach to a prank on an unsuspecting cabin-mate.

As Percy crossed to the Hecate cabin, he saw the Aura twins, Emma and Ella, coming out. The two of them were dressed identically, as usual. Over the last couple of weeks, Percy had learned to tell them apart; while the girls were near perfectly identical, Emma was right-handed, where Ella was left-handed and they coordinated a set of woven hemp anklets to match their dominant sides. Emma's green-beaded anklet was on her right ankle and Ella's purple-beaded anklet was on her left. Aside from personality, the anklets were the only way to tell one twin from the other. 

"Hi, Percy!" Emma called, waving at the approaching son of Poseidon.

Percy gave a wave back, but held his tongue; he was still upset and there was no reason to take his anger out on one of the friendliest people at camp. Instead, he forced himself to smile at Emma. Emma smiled back, grabbed her sister's hand to hook their pinkies as they headed over to their own cabin. 

"So, what brings the son of Poseidon to the Hecate cabin?"

Percy looked up to see Tayen leaning against the doorframe of her cabin. The Barbadian girl had her usual shorts and Camp Half-Blood tanktop on, but she was missing her jewelry, which Percy found a bit odd; he'd rarely seen her without her numerous bracelets and necklaces, since she usually only took them off for the weekly Capture the Flag game. 

"I wanted to see about a couple potions," Percy said, stepping up to the doorway. 

"You have drachma?" Tayen asked. 

Percy nodded and pulled a handful of the golden coins out of his pocket to show her. Tayen glanced around for any sign of Chiron or Mr. D; though both camp directors knew that the Hecate cabin was charging for the potions they made, they couldn't do anything about it unless they actively caught the girls making a sale. Once she was sure the coast was clear, she gestured for Percy to come in. 

"What are you looking for?" she asked as she led Percy to the corner of the cabin where they kept the potions. "Healing, enhancing, prank?"

"Just something to calm down with," Percy told her. "And maybe something to help me sleep."

Tayen gave a hum as she went through the selection, picking up a vial of blue liquid. "You having trouble sleeping, too?"

Percy arched a brow at her. "Too?"

The dark-skinned girl shrugged. "Luke stopped by this morning, asking for a sleeping aid. He said something about nightmares and unusual dreams."

"He's having nightmares?" Percy asked, surprised. He knew that Luke had been having dreams, but the older half-blood had never said anything about any nightmares. "What kind of nightmares?"

Tayen picked up a vial of silver liquid and looked right at Percy. "I think you know," she told him. "What else could he possibly have nightmares about?"

Percy swallowed. "Kronos."

Tayen's eyes darkened as she handed Percy the two vials in exchange for four drachma. "He's not supposed to remember the Lord of Time or anything that happened, but I think he'll always have some shadows of his past in his mind. It would take more than a few drops of the Lethe's waters to take everything away."

Percy nodded. "Grover said almost the same thing. It doesn't have the same effect."

"I'll admit, Percy, I'm a little worried about him. Something has to be done about his memories or perhaps about the oath." The daughter of Hecate turned to face him. "I think we were wrong to take the oath; it was, perhaps, a little short-sighted."

Percy considered the concern in Tayen's voice. "Tayen…do you like Luke?"

The older girl gave a start and looked at Percy like he'd gone crazy. "What? Do I-? No!" she shook her head, blushing deeply. "Percy, I'm dating Emma and Ella."

Now Percy stared at her. "Y-you’re dating Emma _and_ Ella?"

"Why do you think they were just here?" Tayen asked, her face still dark from her blush. "Good gods, Percy Jackson!" She shook her head again, as if she was trying to get rid of the mental image of her even liking Luke in any way more than a casual acquaintance. 

"S-so, why are you worried about Luke?" Percy tried to get the subject back onto the son of Hermes. 

Tayen took a moment to consider her answer. "You remember that I was on the Titans' side with my mother in last year's battle? I knew Luke before he gave his body to the Titan Lord."

This surprised Percy. He hadn’t thought that Tayen might have known Luke before the battle. "What can you tell me?"

There was silence from the older half-blood for a long moment. "Luke…" she finally began, "he never wanted to give his body to the Lord of Time. Lord Kronos tormented Luke for years. Giving up his body was Luke's last resort. It was his biggest fear."

"I thought I was Luke's biggest fear," Percy said, furrowing his brow.

Tayen gave a snort. "Luke never feared _you_. He feared _for_ you."

Percy stared at her. "What do you mean by that?"

"It's not my place to say, Percy Jackson. If you want answers for that, you'll have to ask Luke."

"But I _can't_ ask Luke," Percy told her. "He doesn't remember!"

"There is a lot that Luke doesn't remember, true, but this is not something he's likely to forget," Tayen told him. She crossed her arms over her chest. "Believe me when I say this, Percy. You are the key for him and always have been."

Percy gave her a confused look, but apparently, the daughter of Hecate was done talking to him about Luke. She shooed him out of the cabin, informing him which elixir did what and reminding him to take only a small swallow of the potions and in which order to take them. As soon as he was out of the cabin, Tayen shut the door, leaving Percy to head back to his own cabin.

Once Percy was back to his own cabin, he crawled into bed. Alima was still out, taking as much time as she could before eleven, when lights were turned out and everyone was to be in bed. Percy took the blue potion and opened it. He swallowed just a little bit, as Tayen instructed. Immediately, he felt himself calm, all the troubles of that day melting away like the fog that sometimes lingered over the campgrounds in the morning. He followed the same instructions with the silver potion, capped it and set both potions on his bedside table before curling up under his blanket.

* * * * * 

Almost as soon as the dream began, Percy knew it was different than the ones he'd had previously. He hadn't been wandering camp, he hadn't been anywhere. He was in his bed, just as he'd been when he'd fallen asleep. At first, it was hard to tell that he was even dreaming, it was so much like being awake. The only way he could tell it was a dream was the surreal feeling that surrounded him. 

His cabin, usually lit with the faint glow of the fountain in the corner, was dim and empty, for his half-sister was not there. Neither was her bed or any of the empty beds that usually sat scattered throughout the cabin. It was only Percy and his bed. There wasn't a sign that anyone else ever used the cabin. 

The bronze hippocampi that Tyson had created and hung up clinked together in a soft breeze coming in through the front door, which was left open a couple inches. There was no light coming in from the moon outside, only wind. A chill ran down Percy's spine as he began to sit up and throw his blankets off.

A hand pushed him back down. "You're fine, Perce."

Percy recognized the voice. It was the same voice that had been haunting his dreams of late. He reached to grab the hand that pushed him back down. "Lu - "

A pair of lips against his cut him off, pressing firm, yet gently. Percy froze, a warm feeling in his gut as Luke kissed him. He knew it was Luke; there was no mistake about it, not with the other dreams. He wanted to push the older half-blood away, but he refrained and, instead, reached out to pull Luke closer. Percy wasn't thinking, just acting. 

Before he knew it, Luke's lips had moved from Percy's, venturing lower and along the younger half-blood's jaw, down to his throat. Percy tilted his head back and to the side, allowing Luke greater access to the soft, sensitive skin. Percy's eyes slipped shut, the warm feeling spreading within him as Luke's hands began wandering over his body. It felt so good, so right, but a thought nagged at Percy's mind, even in his subconsciousness. 

"Why?" he asked. 

"Figure it out, Perseus Jackson," came the reply.

But the voice that had answered his question hadn't been Luke's. The older half-blood was too busy administrating warm, wanting kisses along Percy's collar. Whoever had spoken was invisible to Percy, hidden somewhere in the darkness of the dream. 

"This is not something that can be simply told to you," the mysterious voice continued. "I have given you everything I can. Now, it is up to you."

Percy wanted to ask more, wanted to know who it was that had spoken. It wasn't Morpheus; Percy had met the god of dreams before and would know if he were the speaker. Why was this mysterious person giving Percy these dreams? Were they the one giving Luke the mirror dreams and, again, why? 

"You have the answer, Perseus. You just have to see it."

Percy opened his mouth to ask what that meant, but Luke chose that moment to capture his lips in another kiss as he tugged at Percy's pants. Percy let go of subconscious thought and gave in to the desires he felt in his dream. He wrapped his arms around Luke and pulled him down over him.

* * * * * 

"You look exhausted," Nico told Percy the next morning. 

The son of Hades had joined up with the Poseidon and Hebe cabins for archery practice, since all three cabins were small; with only Nico in the Hades cabin, Percy and Alima in the Poseidon cabin and only five kids in the Hebe cabin, it seemed like a good idea to bunch them together. Chiron was just letting them practice on their own, since most of them had a fair idea of how to use their bows, though the centaur would occasionally take a camper aside for some additional help.

"I've been up since three this morning," Percy replied, not so much practicing with his bow, but rather just toying with it. "Couldn't get back to sleep."

"I thought you got something from the Hecate girls for that," Nico said. 

Percy looked at him, one eyebrow arched. "How did you - ?"

Nico shrugged. "I see things. My cabin's right next to yours and I saw you leave the Hecate cabin with a couple of potions. I figured you'd gotten something to help you sleep, since you've been so tired lately."

"Is it that obvious I've been tired?"

Nico shrugged again, pulling an arrow along his bow, aiming and letting the arrow fly. Though the son of Hades was much more comfortable with a sword, he wasn't half-bad with a bow. His aim was just a little off, but at least he could actually hit the targets, where Percy couldn't. Nico swore softly in Ancient Greek and notched another arrow.

"I can tell you haven't been sleeping," he began. "For one, your eyes are bloodshot and puffy. Is there a reason you can't sleep?"

Percy opened his mouth to tell Nico that he'd been having dreams, but immediately shut it again, blushing a violent crimson; the last thing he needed to tell the younger half-blood was about his progressively suggestive and sexual dreams. It certainly wasn't anything to dump onto Nico, especially in such a public place, like the archery range. 

"It's just…dreams," he said, finally. He could at least admit that much. "Nothing I can't handle."

Nico arched a slender brow at the older demigod. "Can't tell me about them?"

Percy's blush returned in full force. "I'd…rather not."

The son of Hades shrugged and turned back to his target, lining up his shot and letting go of the arrow. His shot hit only a couple inches off from the bullseye. "Son of a - !"

"Frustrating, isn't it?" asked a boy on Nico's other side. 

"Julian," Nico greeted, voice soft and even, as it was whenever he spoke to anyone who wasn’t Percy, Annabeth or Chiron. 

The boy, Julian Evans, son of Hebe, was about the same age as Nico, with soft, curly brown hair and pale blue eyes. He was a generally friendly half-blood and usually ready to help, whether his help was appreciated or not. Julian instructed Nico to ready another arrow and, when the other boy grudgingly obeyed, gave him some pointers, guiding Nico where needed.

"Try now," Julian grinned. 

Nico did. The shot hit the bullseye this time, not quite dead-center, but definitely within the red circle painted on the target. Nico stared at the target, blinking a couple of times before giving a satisfied nod. He thanked Julian for the advice. The son of Hebe just grinned again and went back to his own bow.

"I think someone likes you," Alima teased from her place on Percy's other side. She was taking a break from practice, drinking from a bottle of water provided by the camp store. 

A frown graced Nico's features, as if he was entirely unsure what to make of the Eastern girl's statement. He settled for giving a shrug. "Whatever." 

Percy shook his head. "I think he wants to be your friend."

"He wants to be _everyone's_ friend," Alima said. She passed a bottle of water to both Percy and Nico. "It is getting hot. You will want to keep hydrated."

Percy gratefully accepted the bottle and opened it to take a long drink. Just because he was a child of Poseidon and had the water within him didn't mean he couldn't get dehydrated like everyone else. When he brought the bottle back from his mouth, he nearly dropped it when Annabeth appeared right in front of him, Yankees cap in her hand as she brought it from her head.

"Surprise, Seaweed Brain," the blonde greeted. She wrapped her arms around him in a tight hug.

Percy, though he'd been angry with Annabeth the previous night, couldn't help but be glad to see her. "What's up, Wise-Girl?" he asked, hugging her in return.

Annabeth pulled away, putting her hands on her hips. "So, what was with cutting me off last night?" she asked, giving Percy a glare.

Percy shrank under that glare. He'd dated Annabeth long enough to know that when she was upset, she could be pretty scary; daughter of Athena or not, one just did not get on the wrong side of an angry Annabeth. "I was tired," he lied. 

"Zeus' bolts, Percy, you were mad at me! Why?!" Annabeth's gray eyes darkened with her question. "I didn't even do anything!"

Percy noted that the other kids at the archery range had paused in their shooting to look at Percy and Annabeth, no doubt their attention grabbed by the daughter of Athena’s shouting. 

"Can we talk about this later?" he asked. He actually didn't want to talk about it at all, but maybe he could at least distract Annabeth and diffuse her anger.

Annabeth fumed for a moment in silence. "Fine, but don't think I'm going to forget about it!" She folded her arms over her chest. "I'm going to go talk to Malcolm about getting my bunk back. I _will_ talk to you later, Percy."

With that, she spun on her heel, her long blonde hair twirling with the movement, then bouncing off her back as she stormed towards the pavilion. Percy watched her go, then heaved a sigh, slumping his shoulders. The Hebe kids that had been watching him and Annabeth gave disappointed looks at the loss of their entertainment and went back to practice. 

"Well," Nico said. "She wasn't happy with you."

"Certainly not," Alima agreed.

Percy groaned. "She's going to string me up and gut me like a fish."

And he wouldn't put it past her, once he sat down with her and explained his situation. The thing was, he wasn't sure how to even begin to tell his sort-of-but-not-really-ex-girlfriend that he was pretty sure he was falling in love with someone else? Especially, how did he tell her that he was pretty sure he was falling in love with someone that she had loved for years and that he had, until only recently, hated with a passion?

Percy had only just realized it that morning, after the long, silent hours after his latest dream.

Whether he accepted it or not, the voice in his dream had been right; the answer was right in front of him. Percy Jackson, hero of Olympus, was falling in love with the one person who had tried to kill him on several occasions, tried to destroy the camp, his home and his world, Luke Castellan.


	5. Chapter 5

The Fourth of July fireworks display was, as everyone knew, the biggest dating event at Camp Half-Blood. Percy remembered a couple of summers ago when Beckendorf had told him to invite Annabeth and, after a run-in with some giant ants even Raid couldn't handle, had asked Silena to go with him. Even after a year, it still made Percy feel guilty to think of Beckendorf and Silena; both had died as heroes and, though there was really nothing that Percy could have done to save either of them, he still felt somewhat responsible for their deaths. Being the child of a Great Prophecy had too many downsides.

Percy had to shake himself out of those thoughts. He had to focus on his situation. He was supposed to take Annabeth to the fireworks tonight, since that was really the reason she'd come to camp for her break at Olympus. She had been looking forward to it and Percy knew that. He also knew that just about everyone at camp expected to see them together at the beach. The problem was that he didn't feel right about it anymore.

Annabeth deserved to know the truth, now that he had figured it out. She had been his friend for years, his girlfriend for some time and, though they weren't actively dating because of her schedule, they were still considered an 'item' by friends, fellow campers and each other. If Percy truly was in love with someone else, Annabeth had the right to know. He still loved her, of course, but not the way she deserved to be loved.

Percy paced in his cabin during his free hour. He had no idea how to even approach Annabeth with the truth. Knowing his ADHD-riddled mind, he'd probably just blurt out "I think I'm in love with Luke" right off the bat, to Annabeth's face and, with his luck, in front of the entire Athena cabin, if not the whole camp. If anything could be more embarrassing for either Percy or Annabeth, he couldn't think of it.

Honestly, wasn't it embarrassing enough for both of them that Percy had to tell her about Luke? What could possibly be worse for a girl to hear than that her kind-of-still boyfriend had fallen in love with the guy that she'd been crushing on since she was seven? And, honest to Hades, Percy had no idea how to even approach the subject with her; it had taken him this long to figure out what he felt for himself, how could he possibly just go up to her and explain things?

She was probably going to deck him, Percy decided after pacing the cabin a few minutes more. _Never mind I'm on the verge of curling up with a huge tub of ice cream while I re-evaluate my sexuality. She'll never forgive me for stringing her along._

But was it really stringing Annabeth along if he hadn't even known until just a couple of days ago? Ugh, Percy didn't know. It wasn't as if this had ever happened to him before. He hadn't just woken up one day and said 'hey, I think I'm going to throw away my first real relationship out the window and fall madly in love with Luke!', right? Well, okay, it was kind of like that, but not as sudden and about a billion times less sarcastic, not to mention he wasn't just throwing away his relationship with Annabeth.

Far from it, actually; the last thing Percy wanted was to just ditch Annabeth. That was why he was thinking this whole thing through and had been since the daughter of Athena had arrived back at camp. She was his friend, one of his closest friends. He couldn't just leave her, couldn't hurt her by simply dumping her and jumping into Luke's arms.

Not that he was going to jump into Luke's arms, anyways. Gods, he didn't even know how Luke would take this! It was one thing for Percy to approach Luke and tell him that he wanted to be friends and a whole other thing to tell Luke that he was falling in love with him! Though, if Luke was having dreams anything like the ones Percy was still having, maybe it wouldn't be so bad, but Percy hadn't even spoken to him about dreams in the last couple of weeks. It was just too awkward.

Percy gave a groan of frustration and kicked a piece of armor across the floor of the cabin. "What am I going to do?"

"What are you going to do about what?"

Percy looked up to see Alima standing just inside the door of the cabin, having returned from helping in the stables. The younger child of Poseidon looked a mess, clothes covered in dirt and sweat from a long day of training, her long hair falling out of its usual braid. She kicked off her shoes and trudged over to her locker for some clean clothes to wear to dinner.

Percy sat down on his bed. "It's…complicated."

Alima blew her hair out of her face as she picked up her clothes and headed behind a dividing screen to dress in the semi-privacy it provided her. "I know that you have only known me for a month or so, Percy, but you are my family," she said. "If you need to talk, I will do my best to listen and understand."

"I'm not even sure where to begin," Percy protested.

There was a moment of silence as Alima struggled with her pants. "Well, you might want to start with what is the most troublesome matter."

Percy fell back onto the mattress. "Okay, _that_ , I'm not sure is appropriate to talk to my twelve-year-old half-sister about."

Alima gave a curse in her native language as she fell over. "Then, ow, start with something that is? I do want to help, Percy."

The question of how Alima could possibly help came to Percy's mind, but he refrained from posing the question. He knew that Alima was probably quite serious about wanting to help and Percy really didn't need another girl mad at him. Giving himself a moment to think over his words, the son of Poseidon lifted his hand to examine the scar on his palm from where the Pit scorpion had stung him during his first summer at camp. Oddly enough, that always helped him think clearer on the spot.

Percy heaved a sigh. "So, you've met Annabeth now. She's supposed to be my girlfriend."

"'Supposed'?"

"We've kind of been taking a break for a while," Percy explained. "She's the head architect at Mount Olympus. She doesn't exactly spend a lot of time here anymore, so that makes it hard to date steadily."

Alima finished dressing and stepped out from behind the screen, pulling her hair out of its braid and running her fingers through to brush it. "So I would imagine. Go on."

"I feel kind of awkward," Percy admitted. "This is the kind of stuff I'd usually talk to my mom or step-dad about."

Alima sat on her own bed, a few feet away from Percy's. "No one is stopping you from sending them an Iris-Message. I merely thought that, since I am here, it might be easier."

"I don't know, should I really be talking to you about my dating issues?"

The girl shrugged. "It does not hurt to try."

Percy frowned, then sighed again. She had a point. "Right. So, I'm supposed to take Annabeth to the fireworks tonight. It's the thing to do if you're dating. The thing is, I love Annabeth; she's a great friend and I wouldn't trade her for the world, but…"

"But, and I am just guessing at this, you love her like a friend and only like a friend?" Alima suggested.

Sitting up, Percy looked at his half-sister and gave a nod. "Exactly. I just don't know how to tell her without her getting hurt. And there's…kind of someone else."

Alima arched a brow. "Does this 'someone else' know?"

"I haven't told them yet. I don't know how to do that, either. It's…really complicated."

Silence fell between the two half-bloods. It felt kind of awkward to Percy, since he was already uneasy about his impending doom at the hands of his girlfriend and the thought of ever telling Luke how he felt. Alima's silence was, most likely, from not knowing what to tell Percy. She was, after all, only twelve, had never dated and wasn't looking to date any time in the near future. It wasn't as if she could really offer any sage advice.

"I think," Alima began after a long period of silence, "telling Annabeth is going to hurt her, no matter how you tell her. She cares deeply about you, yes?"

Percy nodded.

Alima looked at her half-brother. "If I were you, I would not tell her tonight. It would not be fair to her."

"Duh," Percy said flatly. He knew better than that. Annabeth would flay him alive if he pulled something like that on her in the middle of the biggest dating event of the summer.

Alima thought for another long minute, obviously unsure of what to say. "I do not claim to know much about dating or how you Americans handle it, but I have witnessed enough from the Aphrodite cabin to know what not to do."

Percy gave a silent nod. He, too, had seen the drama that went on with the campers in the Aphrodite cabin; the girls would fling themselves onto one another, bawling about who dumped them and how. The boys were better about it, but not by much. Where the girls would cling and weep, the guys would go into funks for a couple of days before falling in love with someone else. Percy had learned exactly what not to do when it came to break ups.

That still didn't help him figure out how to break things to Annabeth without getting killed.

"I am sorry I am not much help," Alima said, breaking into Percy's thoughts.

"It's okay," Percy told her. "Thanks for listening, anyways."

The younger child of Poseidon nodded, then stood up. "We should be heading for the dining pavilion. Good luck with Annabeth."

"Thanks."

* * * * *

After dinner, rather than going to the campfire as usual, everyone headed down to the beach. The sun was still above the horizon, but it was heading down as time went by. Groups and couples all but fought for the best places to sit for the upcoming show. Annabeth caught up with Percy, carrying a blanket draped over her arm as she joined him. She looked great, long blonde hair loose and cascading down her back in gentle curls, a pair of shorts showing off her legs nicely as she hurried over to Percy. 

Yes, Percy could still appreciate everything that made Annabeth beautiful, but there was no longer that catch in his breath, the hiccup in his heartbeat. He loved her, yes, but it was as if he'd always loved her like a sister. Cliché as it was, it was true. He wasn't sure if this realization came now because of his realization that he was in love with Luke or if he'd always known.

"Are you just going to stand there all night or are we going to go find a place to sit?" Annabeth asked. She flashed him a grin, showing that she was just teasing him.

"Oh, yeah," Percy mumbled, shaking his head. "A place to sit. That'd be a good idea."

"Are you alright, Percy?" Annabeth asked as the two of them headed down the beach. "You seem a little more out of it than usual. And that's saying something."

Percy shook his head. "I'm fine. It's just been a long summer, so far."

Annabeth gave a frown. "Luke told me the same thing when I talked to him this morning. Is there something going on that you guys aren't telling me?"

Percy had talked to Annabeth about his renewed friendship with Luke, trying to make it easier to tell her that he was in love with the older demigod, but there was a lot that he hadn't told her; he didn't mention the dreams, didn't tell her at all about the mysterious voice that had spoken to him in his dreams the other night. He wasn't quite ready for that, yet. At most, Annabeth knew that Percy had moved past his anger at Luke. It was a big step between that and telling her the full truth about his feelings.

"It's nothing," he lied. "It's just that this is the first summer that there haven't been any quests. It gets a little boring."

Annabeth arched a brow at him, as if she knew that Percy wasn't telling her the truth. Whether she actually believed him or not would have to wait, apparently, for she didn't call him on his lie. Instead, she chose to search for a good spot on the sand, finding one she knew would have a great view of the fireworks, from having seen the show every year since she was seven. She laid down the blanket that she'd brought with her and took a seat, stretching her legs out over the blanket easily and patting it in a gesture inviting Percy to join her.

"Sit down, Seaweed Brain," she told him. "The show starts in five minutes."

Percy sat down, stretching out just as easily as the daughter of Athena. He rested his head up on Annabeth's thigh, looking up at her. "So, how's Olympus?" he asked. "Construction going well?"

Annabeth's face lit up. "It's going great! The muses and I have gotten together to create new amphitheatre for them, designed to have perfect acoustics, so they can't wait. Construction on that starts next week, though. The market construction is just about finished. We're opening that tomorrow when I get back -"

Percy just smiled as Annabeth continued to explain how progress on rebuilding Olympus was going. He didn't understand half of the things that she said, something about the Ionic order architecture. Honestly, Percy didn't mind so much that he didn't understand what his friend was talking about, so long as it made her happy.

A few minutes passed and one of the Hephaestus kids announced that the show was starting in just a few more minutes while some last minute inspections were made. While waiting, Percy sat up properly and looked around the shore. He saw Tayen with Emma and Ella, the three of them sitting shoulder-to-shoulder-to-shoulder with one twin on either side of the daughter of Hecate. Travis and Connor were hanging out with some of their siblings, passing around snacks from a stash they'd brought along with them. Loki, one of the other sons of Hermes, was sitting with his boyfriend, Jareth, a son of Apollo, the two of them not caring in the slightest about anything, siblings, friends or anything.

Percy's gaze shifted to the edge of the woods behind him, catching a glimpse of Grover and Juniper, amongst others that sat at the treeline. Behind them, Percy caught sight of another figure in the woods, leaning against a tree with his arms folded over his chest nonchalantly. Percy's eyes met his briefly before the older demigod pushed himself away from the tree and turned to leave. A frown settled over Percy's lips.

"Hey, Annabeth, I'll be right back," Percy said, pushing himself up.

Annabeth looked at him, arching a brow. "Where are you going? The show's about to start!"

"I'll be right back," the son of Poseidon repeated. He couldn't tell her that he was going to go see Luke when he was supposed to be on a date with her. In all honesty, talking to Luke could probably wait until the next day, but Percy felt a sort of urgency.

"Percy!" Annabeth protested, obviously not happy about this.

"I'll just be a few minutes," Percy promised, hurrying across the beach, around couples and groups on their own blankets, navigating around the crowd and into the woods, just as the fireworks began to shoot into the night sky.

It took a few minutes to actually find Luke, since it was dark, the only light being the fireworks flashing above. When Percy came across him, the son of Hermes was standing at a familiar creek. It was the same creek where Luke had taken Percy after the lightning thief quest, where the older demigod had first betrayed Percy. As Percy approached, his fingers absently ran over the scar he'd received from the Pit scorpion that the older demigod had sent after him; the scar had never faded, an eternal reminder of Luke's betrayal.

"Shouldn't you be with Annabeth?" Luke asked. His back was turned to Percy, hands deep in the pockets of the khaki shorts he wore.

Percy stepped closer, his heart already beating hard in his chest. "I saw you watching," he said, softly. He sounded like an idiot. He felt like an idiot, coming after Luke with no plan, no idea what he was going to say or do. All he had to go on was a sense that it was important that he come to see Luke.

Luke turned now. In the brief light from a series of fireworks overhead, Percy could see the look on the older demigod's face was pained, like he was regretting something. Percy couldn't tell what it was, but there was something more in the way that the son of Hermes looked at him now. It reminded Percy of the dreams he'd been having, a sense of loss and a need to recover washing over him.

"Perce, I don't know why you followed me," Luke told him. The older demigod kept his hands in his pockets, shoulders back and strong. "You should be on the beach, watching the fireworks."

Percy shook his head. This was where he should be. He stepped even closer to Luke, not stopping until he was close enough to touch the older demigod. Luke hadn't moved from where he stood, eyes focused on the son of Poseidon, watching in silence as Percy's hands reached up to touch his face.

"I'm in love with you."

Percy blinked. The words had not come from him, but rather, it was Luke who had spoken. The older demigod's eyes were fully blue as they focused on Percy. It was as if there had never been a trace of the molten gold that had invaded Luke's gaze when Kronos had taken over his body, like Luke had never left camp, never joined up with the Titan lord. Pure blue irises, bluer than the sea on a clear day, bluer than the sky, met green eyes.

"Luke," Percy began. He was thrown off by Luke's words; this was not what he'd been expecting at all when he'd come after Luke. He wasn't even sure what he had been expecting, come to think of it.

Okay, what he _really_ hadn't been expecting was for Luke to put an arm around his waist and pull him close. Close enough for the older demigod to bring his lips to Percy's ear so that just a simple breath tickled his skin. Close enough for their chests to touch and hips brush together. That same arousal that had been tormenting Percy in his dreams flared up within him.

"Damn you, Percy Jackson," Luke murmured into Percy's ear. "I've tried to leave you alone, let you have your own life, but you just keep coming back."

And before Percy could say anything, Luke's lips were pressed against his own, warm and firm, wanting, needing and claiming the younger demigod. Percy couldn't resist, the desires that had been building in him since that first dream over a month ago rising within him, the realization that it was Luke whom he loved causing him to kiss back. His hands on either side of Luke's face slipped down as he wrapped his arms about the other demigod, holding Luke to him.

It blew away any other kiss that Percy had ever had. He had no breath when it was over, couldn't think, couldn't speak. He doubted he would be able to stand if it weren't for Luke's arm around his waist. His arms held to the older demigod like he were a lifeline, fingers clinging to the fabric of Luke's oversized Camp Half-Blood shirt as he held on.

"You have no idea how long I've wanted to do that," Luke murmured again, burying his face in the crook of Percy's neck.

Just the feeling of Luke's breath against his neck had Percy's heart pounding in his chest all over again. He held Luke against him, wondering exactly how long Luke had wanted to kiss him. The dreams had started a little over a month ago, but something about the way the older demigod spoke, it had been much longer than that. Thoughts came to mind about things Percy had been told recently, and something Tayen had mentioned a couple of days ago stuck out in his mind.

He was the key for Luke. Something about him had always been tied to the older demigod. He recalled Tayen mentioning that Luke had feared for him, like Luke had always been worried for him, afraid that something might happen to him. Had she been trying to clue him in that Luke had loved him? It didn't make sense, though; if Luke had loved him, why had the older demigod spent so much time as his enemy?

"Perce?" Luke's voice pulled him out of his reverie and Percy looked up at the son of Hermes. "I know you've been dreaming about me. Just as I've been dreaming of you."

Gods, those words weren't supposed to come out like that, were they? Percy mulled over the words in his mind, along with the thought that Luke loved him and may have loved him for a while. He gave a nod, unable to deny the dreams that had been coming to him at night, the dreams that had been so increasingly frustrating, so wonderful, tormenting and pleasing.

"You love me," Luke murmured. It wasn't a question; Luke knew that Percy loved him.

Another nod from the younger demigod had Luke pulling him back in for another mind-blowing kiss. Percy returned the kiss with fervor, wrapping his arms tightly around the son of Hermes, like he couldn't believe this was real – this had to be another dream, right? It was only because this was a dream that Percy was actually kissing Luke, right? No way this was really happening. Percy had fallen asleep waiting for the fireworks and Annabeth would be shaking him awake any minute now.

Oh, gods, Annabeth.

Percy broke away from Luke, suddenly and breathlessly. His lips were kiss-swollen and dry and, when he let his tongue run over them to moisten them, he could still taste Luke on them. Percy closed his eyes, trying to relax and catch his breath. His heart was racing, beating against his chest like a jackhammer on concrete, a sound that he was all too familiar with, having grown up in New York. One hand over his heart, the other coming to touch his lips, Percy took a moment to compose himself.

"Luke, I can't," he murmured. "Not...not right now."

Luke regarded him, calmly. It was obvious when Percy looked back up at him that the older demigod wanted to continue kissing him, wanted to touch him, bring every desire the two of them had been feeling in their dreams into reality. It was also obvious that Luke was holding back, willing to let Percy set the pace. After a moment of silence, Luke approached Percy, bringing his hands up to cup the teen's face and pressing a surprisingly soft kiss to Percy's forehead.

"You know where to find me when you're ready," he said.

Percy nodded, pulling himself away from Luke again. The fireworks above head had stopped some time ago; Percy wasn't sure how long ago. All he knew was that he'd missed them entirely and that Annabeth was going to kill him – slowly and painfully.

* * * * *

As it turned out, Annabeth didn't wind up killing him. Which, Percy supposed, he had to be grateful for. However, she wouldn't talk to him at all. When he'd gotten back to the beach, she'd glared at him, her sandy blanket folded over her arms, and proceeded to storm past him without a word. He tried to follow her, apologizing every step of the way, but Annabeth was just that much faster than him and stomped her way into her cabin with her siblings, leaving Percy outside with a bunch of other campers watching in surprise and, damn it, amusement. 

In the morning, Malcolm, Annabeth's half-brother, informed Percy that she'd returned to Olympus early. He also passed a message to him that Annabeth thought he was a seaweed brained idiot that couldn't be bothered to keep a date. Percy groaned at that; he really hadn't meant to miss the entire date. Everything with Luke had just happened so fast. He'd completely lost track of time.

Well, now he'd done it. He'd wanted to explain things Annabeth, let her know that he still cared about her, even though he didn't love her the way she wanted him to. He wanted to tell her the truth, as gently as possible, about how he felt about Luke. Now he wouldn't even get the chance because she was back on Olympus and probably going to be busier than ever, just so she wouldn't have to talk to him.

Why did girls have to be so frustrating?

_/Yo, boss!/_ Blackjack called as Percy entered the stables. The black pegasus gave a whinny when he saw that the son of Poseidon hadn't brought any apples with him, then gave a worried snort as he noticed that Percy was upset. _/Hey, what's got you so blue?/_

"Annabeth," Percy replied. "Annabeth and Luke."

Blackjack gave another snort, this time a snort of dismay. _/Can we not mention the scary dude?/_

"Sorry, 'Jack." Percy knew that Blackjack had a definite dislike for Luke, stemming from his imprisonment aboard the Princess Andromeda. He'd been hoping the pegasus might be able to forgive Luke, but it seemed that Blackjack was worse than Nico when it came to holding grudges. "We won't talk about him."

_/So...where is your girlfriend?/_ Blackjack asked. There was a sad tone in the pegasus' voice. _/She said she was going to bring me apples!/_

"She went back to Olympus," Percy replied, moving to fetch a brush to work out the straw and tangles in his friend's mane and tail. "I kind of pissed her off last night."

Blackjack whinnied. _/So, she won't be bringing any snacks?/_

"Guess not."

The dark pegasus lowered his head in disappointment and let Percy run the brush through his mane. Silence fell between demigod and stallion for a few minutes while the son of Poseidon worked out the tangles. Blackjack eventually began fidgeting because of the silence and started up some general banter, mentioning one of the pretty tan mares in the other stable, asking Percy if Alima would come by later to hang out, whether the son of Poseidon thought camp was getting a little loud lately with all the new comers.

Percy was grateful for the banter. Letting Blackjack have charge of the conversation was enough for him; he didn't need to talk about Annabeth or Luke at the moment. He needed time to think about what he was going to do about the situation. Knowing that Luke loved him made things both easier and more difficult. While he wouldn't have to worry anymore about what the son of Hermes would think of him, he had twice as much to worry about when it came to the daughter of Athena. Annabeth was not going to take it easily that the two men she loved, had loved for years, were in love with each other.

So what was he supposed to do now?

He didn't even get the chance to think on it. Travis and Connor chose that minute to come into the stables, the brothers coming over to Percy with near identical expressions of worry over their faces. Percy gave a frown and paused in brushing Blackjack's mane so he could face the Stolls.

"Something wrong?" he asked.

Travis placed his hands on his hips. "You haven't seen Luke today, have you?"

Percy blinked, not expecting that question. "No, I haven't," he answered. "Why? What's going on?"

Connor ran his hand through his curly brown hair, brow furrowed. "He left the cabin this morning and no one's seen him since." He was more than a little anxious about this. While he and Travis had been particularly bitter around their older half-brother, they'd begun warming back up to him, remembering how much they had always looked up to Luke, how they had spent years wanting to be just as great as he was. "We were hoping you might have seen him."

"Why me?" Percy arched a brow, wondering if the Stoll brothers somehow knew about his encounter with Luke the previous night.

Travis shrugged. "You're friends with him. We figured he was hanging out with you again, since he's been doing that a lot."

Percy shook his head. Now he, too, was getting a little anxious. Where was Luke, then? Had he gone off on his own? Had someone broken the camp-wide oath and tried to get to him? As far as Percy knew, Clarisse hadn't gotten to Luke; she had been training all day, teaching the javelin course with cabin after cabin. She was the most likely to go after Luke, but there was no evidence that she had.

"If you're looking for Luke, you won't find him here."

Percy looked to the entrance to the stables. There was no mistaking who had spoken, from his soft voice and the way the pegasi began whinnying in uneasiness. Nico stood in the doorway, leaning against the frame with his arms crossed over his chest and dark eyes focused on Percy, a knowing look in his gaze.

"Where is he?" Percy demanded. Concern colored his voice and made his heart pound against his chest. If Nico knew that Luke was gone, it was a good chance that he knew where the older demigod had gone and, considering Nico again, wherever Luke had gone, it was not good.

"He left for Central Park this morning," Nico told him. "He'll head straight for Orpheus' Door and to the Underworld."

Percy, Travis and Connor all stared at Nico in surprise. The son of Hades was saying all of this quite calmly, as if he'd been expecting Luke to make this move for the last year. And perhaps, Nico had been expecting it.

"Why would Luke go to the Underworld?" Travis asked, furrowing his brow in confusion.

Nico turned to him, one dark eyebrow arched under his bangs. "Why else? He's heading for Mnemosyne's Pool."


	6. Chapter 6

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Most of what happens in this chapter is my own interpretation of gods and places in the Underworld and may not coincide with Riordan's portrayal or what you might think. Also, Tayen has developed and made herself important, so she's become a bit of a main OC. She won't overwhelm any of the canon characters, though. I promise.

Percy ran up to Luke, wrapping his arms around the son of Hermes from behind and pressing his cheek against the older demigod's back. Luke was so warm, warmer than before; burning, almost. Percy could feel the heat on his skin, warming him up and nearly burning where he touched Luke. He could feel the older demigod's heart beating under his hands, which laid flat over Luke's chest, fingers clenching the fabric of the son of Hermes' plain white tee. 

"Luke, what are you doing?" Percy demanded softly. 

Luke didn't move, didn't look back at the son of Poseidon. "You know I need to do this. I can't sit back anymore. I have to know the truth and no one will give it to me." 

Percy's arms tightened around Luke. "Don't do this. Please, Luke."

The older demigod was silent for a moment, bringing his hands up to cover Percy's for a moment. Percy's fingers still clung to his shirt, even as Luke gently ran a thumb over the knuckles of younger demigod's right hand. A moment later, Luke lifted Percy's hand to his lips, kissing from the flat of the palm, along the thumb and to the wrist, each soft, gentle kiss causing a jolt to rush through the teen. The son of Poseidon could feel Luke's lips linger over the scar from the pit scorpion, as if wondering for the first time where that scar had come from.

"Don't stop me, Percy," he murmured against Percy's hand. He turned around, dropping the younger demigod's hand and bringing his arms around the son of Poseidon's waist. He leaned in, kissing Percy, firmly, deeply, passionately enough to cause the teen to whimper and go limp against him. 

When the kiss broke, Luke pulled away, cupping Percy's face with one hand and pressing his forehead against the teen's. "Don't stop me and don't follow me."

Saying that, Luke turned away from the younger demigod and walked off, fading into the darkness that surrounded the son of Poseidon. Left alone, Percy stood frozen where he was, lips still tingling from the kiss with the older demigod and heart aching.

"I have to follow you, Luke. I can't let you do it this way, not alone."

* * * * *

If there was to be anything said about Percy Jackson when it came to those he loved, he was always prepared to go the distance and do whatever it took to save them. Hadn't he gone into the Underworld to face Hades in order to get his mother back? Gone into the heart of the Sea of Monsters to save his best friend? Had he not taken the weight of the skies themselves for Annabeth's sake? In the Labyrinth, he'd risked being killed by flesh-eating horses, been blown sky-high when Mount St. Helen's blew, risked everything to save the camp. Then, in the battle last year, he'd gone blade-to-blade with Kronos himself to save everyone. 

Percy Jackson, as Athena had once said, would sacrifice the world to save his friends. 

Luke was no exception. After renewing the friendship that they'd once had, strengthening it and falling in love with the son of Hermes, Percy was not about to let the older demigod slip through his fingers. Not when they'd just realized they loved each other – well, when Percy had just realized he loved Luke; the more he thought about it, the more he was convinced that Luke had loved him for quite some time. 

So when he'd heard that Luke had headed for the Door of Orpheus to get into the Underworld, to search for the Mnemosyne's Pool, he'd known he needed to go after him. Luke had every right to know what had happened the in the last four, nearly five years, but this wasn't how the son of Hermes should find out. Percy had known this wasn't the way Luke needed to know. So he'd immediately packed up a few essential items to go after Luke. He'd asked Nico to go along since, as the child of Hades, the younger demigod would know the Underworld so much better than he did. 

They'd just gotten out of the camp when Tayen caught up with them, insisting she go along. She'd pleaded her case with Percy, making point after point for why he'd need her to go with – she was worried about Luke, she had an array of helpful potions and charms in case they'd need them, she had magic from her mother to help in fights, not to mention, she had the one thing they needed to get through the Door of Orpheus; a small music box she kept with her at all times, a gift from her mortal father. 

So, convinced, Percy and Nico had let the daughter of Hecate join them. To be honest, Percy actually saw another upside to having Tayen go along; she'd once mentioned knowing Luke during the war and he wanted to know how. He wanted to talk to her about Luke, get her insight on the older demigod. The teenage girl had already given him enough to be curious about what Luke had felt before, how long the son of Hermes might have loved him. If he could get her to tell him more, it might shed some light on why the two of them were being pushed together through their dreams.

That had been yesterday now. Luke had a full day on them, since they'd had taken most of the day to get to Central Park. Nico would have taken them there immediately via shadow-traveling, but the son of Hades was not strong enough to pull two others through the shadows with him – not that he was happy to admit to that. To be honest, he wasn't entirely sure how they'd managed it; the last time he'd tried to sneak out of camp, Mr. D had come after him personally. 

However they'd managed it, they had and the three of them were well into the Underworld. Like last time, they'd started out just behind Hades' palace. Nico had led them around the palace, keeping an eye out for his father – Hades was still quite unhappy with Percy for the loss of his dignity and robes after the son of Poseidon had tackled him last year, after swimming in the Styx.

"I can't believe you actually threw the Lord of the freakin' Dead's robes into the Styx," Tayen murmured after overhearing the conversation between Percy and Nico from where she was following the two younger demigods.

"I felt sorry for the souls," Percy said, giving a shrug. 

Tayen wrinkled her nose and turned to Nico. "Please tell me your dad doesn't have a pair of matching boxers."

Nico gave a snort and rolled his eyes. "The less I know about my dad's underwear, the better." 

The palace was well behind them now, so the three of them felt safe speaking at a normal tone. Nico was leading the way, keeping one hand on his Stygian iron sword in case the Keres decided they wanted another taste of Percy Jackson. Both Percy and Tayen kept their own weapons on hand – Percy carried Riptide in his pocket, hand wrapped around the pen form of the magical blade, and Tayen kept her hand around a four-inch, old-fashioned bronze key, which she explained was the alternate form of the crossbow she used. 

"Hey, Nico?" Percy called to the son of Hades. "Where is Mnemosyne's Pool, anyways?"

Nico gave a shrug as he continued walking. "I actually don't know."

Percy and Tayen both stopped where they were. The two older half-bloods exchanged glances, confusion setting in. Percy moved again a moment later and ran to catch up with Nico, putting his hand on the younger demigod's shoulder. "Wait, what do you mean you 'actually don't know'? I thought you knew everything about the Underworld!"

Nico stopped and turned around to face Percy. "Not everything. Nobody knows _everything_ about the Underworld, Percy."

"How are we supposed to stop Luke from drinking from the Pool if we can't even _find_ it?!" Percy demanded. This was not how he'd been hoping things would go. He'd asked Nico to come along because, as the son of Hades, the younger demigod knew the layout the of the Underworld. He'd expected Nico to know exactly where Mnemosyne's Pool was!

"Relax, Percy," Nico told his friend, rolling his eyes. "I know how to find it. Or, rather, I know someone who can tell us how to find it."

"I'm confused," Tayen said, catching up with the two younger demigods. She ran a hand through her bangs, letting the purple of her bangs tangle with the dark brown of the rest of her hair. "We're supposed to be following Luke to the Pool, trying to stop him from getting there and none of us actually know where it is?"

Nico heaved a sigh. "I know how to find it," he repeated. He brought his hand through his own hair, pushing back too-long bangs. "Mnemosyne's Pool changes location from time to time to keep souls from drinking from it and reincarnating with their memories from their past lives. It occasionally does happen. You know those people who claim they're the reincarnation of someone who died when the Titanic sank? Some of them actually are."

"That's..." Tayen blinked. "Wow."

"Okay," Percy said, trying to get back on topic. "So, Titanic souls aside, how do we find the Pool?"

Nico lifted his arm and pointed towards Elysium, just over over the horizon. From where they were, the three demigods could smell barbeque on the cold, haunting breeze that blew through the Underworld. They could see the light from Elysium, almost feel the warmth of the paradise of the afterlife. 

"We'll start there," the son of Hades told the other two. "We'll find who we need to talk to there."

* * * * *

The Elysium Fields. 

Percy remembered the first time he'd seen Elysium, during his first quest. He remembered that this was where he wanted to go when he died. Heroes came here, rewarded for there good deeds in life. Legends rested here. Barbeque wafted on the wind, children – souls too young to be corrupted by the greed of humanity – ran in the gardens, over the emerald fields, voices of those who resided in this too small haven in the darkness of the Underworld echoed in the air.

"This doesn't feel right," Tayen said. "We shouldn't be here. We haven't earned it yet."

Percy had to agree. As wonderful as Elysium was, he knew that this was supposed to be out of his reach. He was still alive. He could have made the argument that he had earned Elysium; he was, in so many eyes, the Hero of Olympus. But it was too soon. He may have earned Elysium, but Elysium wasn't ready for him yet. 

"She should be around here," Nico murmured. 

"Who?" Percy asked. 

"My sister," came the short reply from the son of Hades.

Percy arched a brow. "You mean Bianca? I haven't seen her since the Labyrinth."

"Not Bianca," Nico told him, though it was obvious in the younger demigod's eyes that he wished he could see his departed sister. It had been a long time since he'd last spoken to her and Percy could tell from the way Nico shifted that the younger teen missed her terribly. "My half-sister, Makaria."

"Goddess of Blessed Death," Tayen breathed. 

Nico gave a nod, then moved forward, leading Percy and Tayen through Elysium, towards the Isles of the Blessed. Percy followed him closely, as did Tayen, though the daughter of Hecate looked rather nervous about being there. Percy could only assume it was because of what she'd said earlier about how they shouldn't be there. Though it might also be because of her involvement in the war – she had been on the Titans' side for the majority of it.

"Percy Jackson!" a familiar voice called, cutting into the silence between the three living demigods.

Percy, Tayen and Nico all stopped and, before the son of Poseidon could react, a very familiar young woman had thrown her arms around him in a tight hug. Percy blinked, taking in the dark hair and orange Camp Half-Blood t-shirt the girl wore, trying to place who she was without seeing her face. Then he caught sight of an equally familiar young man approaching the group. The dark skinned teen had a grin on his face, black hair braided in cornrows and, as he came towards them, Percy remembered the last time he'd seen these two particular campers.

"Beckendorf? Silena?"

Silena let go of Percy, giving him a brilliant, perfect pearly-white smile, her face as clear and fair as it had been before the drakon attack last year. Beckendorf had no bruises, no cuts, no burns from the explosion he'd died in, only the rough hands that came from a life in the forges. It was like the daughter of Aphrodite and the son of Hephaestus had never died, never been through the events that killed them. 

"Well, Percy, we didn't think we'd be seeing you here for a long time," Beckendorf said, slapping his hand on Percy's shoulder in greeting. "We heard you won the war."

"You...heard?" Percy blinked.

"Gossip spreads faster in Elysium than even in the Aphrodite cabin," Silena explained with a smile. She gave him another quick hug. "Thank you, Percy. For respecting me, even after what I did."

Percy gave a shake of his head, blushing from the closeness of the daughter of Aphrodite; even though he knew for certain that he was in love with Luke, all children of the goddess of love could affect people. "Silena, without you, we wouldn't have won. You led the Ares cabin to us, brought us the help we needed. We won because you helped us."

Silena nodded, eyes shining with welled up tears. Beckendorf put his hands on her shoulders, bringing her back towards him and embracing her. It was obvious from the way he held her, resting his chin on the crown of her head, that he knew what she'd done and forgiven her, loved her in spite of what had happened. Seeing that love that the son of Hephaestus had for the daughter of Aphrodite made Percy's heart ache – that was the kind of love he wanted for Luke. 

"So what brings you here, Percy?" Beckendorf asked after a moment of silence. He stayed where he was, arms wrapped around Silena from behind.

Percy, broken out of his thoughts, had to take a moment to remember. "Oh. Uhm, we came here to ask for directions."

"We're looking for Makaria," Nico explained. "She has information that we need."

"You mean you're looking for Mnemosyne's Pool, too?" Silena asked, blinking at the son of Hades. She looked at Percy, then to Tayen. She did a double-take when she realized who the girl was. "Tayen. You guys are going after Luke?"

Percy looked between Silena and Tayen, noticing how the two girls definitely knew each other. From the way Silena focused anxiously on the daughter of Hecate, he figured that the daughter of Aphrodite had definitely known Tayen from the Titan army.

"You said 'too'," Tayen observed. "You know what Luke's doing. You've seen him."

Silena gave a hesitant nod. "He was here..." she trailed off, looked up at Beckendorf. "I don't know, time doesn't really exist here."

"Not too long ago, anyways," the son of Hephaestus shrugged. He lifted his arm and pointed out of Elysium. "He headed that way. Towards the Fields of Asphodel."

"Did he say anything?" Percy asked.

"Of course he did," Silena replied, blinking at Percy as if it should be the most obvious thing that Luke had said something. "He said that he was sorry that we were dead and that if you were to come down here to tell you not to follow him." She looked sternly at him, soft blue eyes focusing on the son of Poseidon. "Percy, I know Luke doesn't want you to follow him to Mnemosyne's Pool, I know why he's going there."

"To get his memory back," Percy nodded. 

"You have to go after him, Percy," Silena told him firmly. "I know you love him, like I used to." She gave a soft, perhaps just a little bitter, laugh. "I wouldn't be much of a child of Aphrodite if I couldn't tell you were in love with him. But Percy, you know, better than anyone else, that if he regains his memory, it will hurt him. He can't know what he did."

Percy arched a brow at the daughter of Aphrodite. He knew that Luke, as he was now, living on a lie, on withheld truth, would hurt to know that he'd been the host of Kronos, the leader of the Titan army. All the things that he'd done in the past few years would come back and cause him more damage than simply not knowing. Luke might know that something big was being held from him on account of the oath and Percy knew that hurt him. 

"Believe me, Percy," Silena continued. "If he remembers what he did, if he remembers how he hurt you, he'll never forgive himself. He loves you, Percy. He's loved you since he met you."

The son of Poseidon gave a start at hearing that. He'd figured that Luke had loved him for a while, but since they met? That made no sense! If that was true, why had he tried to kill him so many times? Why had he cursed the flying sneakers to drag him to Tartarus? Why sic a pit scorpion on him? There were so many ways that Luke had tried to kill Percy. If the son of Hermes had been in love with him the whole time...

"I've said enough," Silena sighed, giving a shake of her head. "And I've kept you too long. You need to hurry after Luke." She turned to Nico before Percy could try to get more information out of her. "Makaria is in the rose gardens, playing with the children."

Nico gave a nod and thanked the daughter of Aphrodite. Silena gave him a bright smile before turning to Percy and giving him a quick hug, wishing him the best of luck in getting to Luke in time. Then, she turned to Tayen and, to Percy's surprise, hugged the older girl tightly. 

"You've always protected them better than I have," she told the daughter of Hecate. "Keep it up, even if Luke doesn't remember."

With that, Silena let go of Tayen, then she and Beckendorf bid the three living demigods goodbye before heading back to what they'd been doing – enjoying their afterlife in Elysium, together, as they wanted to. Percy turned questioning eyes on Tayen, about to ask what that had been about, but the older teen shook her head and gestured towards Nico, who was already moving towards the rose gardens. She hurried after the son of Hades, Percy following after her, questions running through his mind at a hundred miles an hour.

* * * * *

Laughter filled the gardens, the bubbly, high laughter of children who had died early in life. Granted paradise for their innocence, too young to be corrupted, spirits of children ran past the three demigods as Nico led Percy and Tayen into the rose gardens. Boys and girls, toddlers, elementary-age children, laughed, shrieked, smiled and waved without a care. In Elysium, they were free to run and play, with no worries of illness, no fear of beatings, no pain, no sadness, no anger. Just fun, just games, happiness and peace. 

"Play with us!" a set of five-year-old twin boys called, grabbing Tayen's hands. "You can be our mommy!"

Tayen gave a flustered noise, trying to protest that she was not here to play, but the twins were adamant. She looked to Nico and Percy, hoping one of them would get her out of the predicament. Nico just gave her a nod, silently letting her know that it was alright if she went to play with the boys for a while. He and Percy would come fetch her when they were done with their meeting with the goddess. Tayen's face fell and her shoulders slumped, but she went along with the two boys. 

Percy turned to Nico. "I thought we were in a hurry to go after Luke?"

Nico gave a shrug. "I have a bit of a soft spot for kids without mothers," he said casually. 

Percy could see why the moment Nico mentioned it. The son of Hades had been a child when his mother had been killed by their uncle. He'd been raised by his older sister until her death and spent two years on his own. It would make sense for Nico to have a soft spot for motherless children, being one himself. Percy wouldn't press the matter, since the younger demigod probably wouldn't say anything else about it; Nico rarely spoke about himself, almost never opening up to anyone. He simply knew Percy well enough to know that the son of Poseidon wouldn't be going around telling everyone about this.

"Come on, Percy," Nico called back, having gone on ahead without the older demigod while Percy was thinking.

When he caught up with Nico, Percy asked how they would know Makaria when they saw her. Percy rarely could tell a god when he saw one, even after all the exposure to gods he'd had since finding out he was a half-blood. Nico gave a shrug in response to the question and Percy came to the conclusion that, as smart as Nico was, he wasn't very much help. He was about to tell the son of Hades this when a young girl slipped her hand into his.

"You've come a long way, Perseus Jackson."

Percy paused and looked to the girl. She was no more than six by the looks of her. Small, slight, with pale skin, soft brown eyes and curly black hair, the girl was familiar and yet strange to the son of Poseidon. She had a tawny colored sundress on, much too muted for the style it was, but oddly fitting for her coloring. Something about her reminded Percy of Nico; perhaps it was the softness of her eyes or the way she held herself. Or, it just might be that she looked like her father, Hades, just as Nico did, but with a fair amount of her mother, Persephone. 

"Makaria?" Percy asked cautiously. 

The little girl gave a nod. "You're here to ask me about Luke Castellan and the Pool of Memories, aren't you?"

Percy gave a nod of his own, then crouched down to be on the same level as the girl – the goddess. "Could you tell me how to get there? Before Luke does?"

Makaria regarded Percy for a moment, her eyes focusing on his face, as if searching him for something. For a while, Percy was almost afraid that she wasn't going to tell him. The goddess kept her hand in Percy's, fingers somehow so cold they were almost warm. Makaria pursed her lips, tilted her head slightly to one side before closing her eyes with a gentle sigh. 

"You have your heart in the right place, Perseus," she said. She brought her head upright and shook it slightly. "You don't want the one you love to hurt. Consider, though, that the pain of being hated without understanding might outweigh the pain of knowing. I have given Luke Castellan the key to finding Mnemosyne's Pool and I will not stand in his way. But I will tell you what I have told him – there is a choice to be made. The answers are not in the memories of the past, but the memories to be made in the future."

Percy had no idea what Makaria was talking about, but he wasn't going to tell her that. If there was one thing he'd learned, it was that you never dismiss the words of a god or goddess. What Makaria was telling him was important somehow and he would find out eventually what she meant. For the moment, though, he just wished she would tell him how to get to the Pool. 

Makaria smiled at Percy, as if knowing what he was thinking. She gestured for Percy to lean in and, when he did, she whispered into his ear:

_"Listen to the winds, for memories sing,  
Echoes of swallows in the spring.  
Cross thy heart and pray for guide,  
And never let love leave thy side.  
Open thy heart and hear the song,  
The Voice of Memory will pull thou along.  
Let words to thou whisper and show the way  
To find the Pool within the day."_

Percy furrowed his brow from the goddess' words. The rhyme made no sense to him, didn't answer his question at all and he had no idea how it was supposed to help him find Mnemosyne's Pool. It was a riddle and Percy Jackson was not one for riddles. Riddles were Annabeth's thing. 

Makaria gave the son of Poseidon a smile. "It will make sense as you journey to save the one you love," she told him. "But you haven't much time. Remember the last line. You have only until midnight tomorrow before the shift."

"If that's the case, we should hurry," Nico said from where he stood aside. He hadn't heard what Makaria had told Percy; he could only assume that his cousin would tell him as they went after Luke. The son of Hades looked at his half-sister and thanked her softly for her help. 

Makaria gave a nod and a soft smile in return. "Tread carefully, little brother," she warned Nico. "You know well that the Underworld holds dangers to even the children of Hades."

Nico gave a silent nod, then went to Percy's side, grabbing the older demigod's shoulder. "Come on, Percy," he said. "We should find Tayen and go on our way."

Percy looked back to Makaria as he and Nico navigated their way out of the rose gardens. The goddess just gave a faint smile before rejoining the children of Elysium for a game of tag.

* * * * *

After leaving Elysium and hiking through the Underworld for several hours, Nico informed Percy and Tayen that it was getting late. This surprised Percy, since he had no sense of time without the sun in the Underworld, but Tayen confirmed Nico's claim. As the daughter of Hecate, the Barbadian girl had a sixth sense while in the Underworld, where her mother had some presence. She suggested they make camp to rest for the night. The three of them would take turns on watch, since there were malevolent spirits and Underworld creatures that would love to get a hold of living demigods. 

Tayen had taken first watch to let Percy and Nico rest. Nico was asleep quickly, comfortable in the Underworld as he was. Percy took a little longer to fall asleep and when he did fall asleep, he was dreaming once again. 

This time, the dream was nothing like the dreams that Percy had been having lately. There was the surreal feeling, as usual, letting the son of Poseidon know that he was, indeed, dreaming, but he didn't recognize his surroundings. He was cold, he noted and, when he looked down, he realized he wore a short ancient Greek chiton and sandals. He was standing at the bank of a creek and he used the reflective surface to make sure he was himself and not some long dead Greek hero. He saw his own face, the face of Percy Jackson, looking back at him. 

"Where am I?" he asked out loud.

"Athens," came an answer, in a familiar voice, one that Percy had heard in his dreams once before. 

Percy whirled around to face whoever it was who spoke. Standing not far from the son of Poseidon was a young man with soft golden curls that fell loose over his shoulders. He wore a chiton similar to the one Percy wore, with golden sandals and a bow was slung over his shoulders, along with a cache of arrows. 

"Who are you?" Percy asked, more than a little suspicious. 

An amused smile curled over the young man's lips. "Isn't it obvious?" he asked. He brought his arms out and, with the movement, a pair of small white wings rose over his shoulders. 

Percy blinked. "Cupid?"

"It's Eros, actually," the winged man replied, still smiling. "Cupid is what they called me in Rome and the name has apparently stuck throughout the centuries."

"What do you want from me?" 

Eros placed his hands on his hips, his smile fading and blue eyes focused on the son of Poseidon. "It's not so much as what I want _from_ you," he told Percy. "It's what I'm doing _for_ you."

Percy blinked again, confused. He looked back at the god that had come into his dream. "And what is that?"

"Percy, I'm the god of love," Eros sighed, shaking his head.

"I thought your mom was," Percy said, arching a brow.

Eros gave a roll of his eyes. "Love is a big thing, son of Poseidon. There are many aspects. My brothers, the other Erotes, and I have domains in love, just as our mother does." He brought his arms up and crossed them over his chest. "For example, I have dominion over love, lust and sex and, particularly, the love between two men."

"You mean like me and Luke?" 

The smile from before came over Eros' lips. "Exactly like you and Luke," he nodded. "My mother reigns over traditional love. She has her preferences and I have mine. Sometime they overlap, sometimes they don't." Eros gestured to Percy. "My mother also sometimes likes to play with cases like yours. You may recall that she once claimed she would make your love life difficult?"

"Oh, I recall," Percy muttered, crossing his arms over his chest in mirror image of the god before him. 

"Yes, well, in your case, she's toying with your destiny," Eros said. "Percy, you and Luke were meant to fall in love. My mother's meddling has made love for the two of you difficult, to the point where neither of you could recognize it. Which is why I had to step in."

"You're the one who's been giving me those dreams."

"Indeed," Eros grinned. "You wouldn't believe the strings I had to pull with Morpheus to get his help with that, but it worked. You realized the love you have for Luke, as he long since realized." He brought his hands together in a single clap. "Now that you two have recognized your love, my job is done."

"Is that why you brought me here?" Percy asked. "To tell me that your job is done? To tell me that I was meant to fall in love with Luke the whole time and Aphrodite's been messing with me for years?"

"Yes and no," Eros admitted. "My job is done, as I said. I've undone the damage that my mother has done. However, there is a little more that I need to do before I can leave you alone."

Percy held still as Eros moved closer to him. The god of love approached the son of Poseidon until they were chest to chest, Eros' hands on Percy's shoulders and forehead against the teen's. It was too close for Percy's comfort, mirroring Luke's actions too much for Percy to feel right about it. Eros didn't seem to mind, of course. In fact, there was a faint smile on the winged god's face. 

"Cross thy heart and pray for guide, Perseus Jackson," Eros murmured. "And never let love leave thy side."

Percy's breath hitched, remembering the rhyme Makaria had recited – not because Eros was so close. "What does it mean?"

Eros laughed lightly. "It means love is your guide, Perseus. You love Luke. Your love for him will guide you to him. You have always had the blessing of love; from my mother, myself, my brothers. Use that blessing."

"What about the rest of the rhyme?" Percy asked.

Eros shook his head, closing his eyes. "That you need to figure out with your friends. I can only help with love. Find Luke, Percy. Love him. He doesn't need his memories to love you in return." The god tilted his head up and pressed his lips against Percy's forehead, a gesture of blessing from the god of love. "This will protect you and open your mind to Memory's song. Good luck to you, Perseus Jackson."

* * * * *

When Percy woke up, he brought his hand up to his forehead. The place where Eros had placed his lips was warm, as if the god had physically touched him, not just in his dream. Percy sat upright and let out a sigh. Eros had told him much in the dream and he needed to wrap his mind around it. A lot had been explained, but it brought forth more questions, questions that Percy needed answers for. 

He'd find the answers. He'd find and love Luke. With these decisions set in mind, Percy took his watch, letting Tayen sleep for a while. Once they were all rested and it was time to move on, Percy knew that he would go forth with more determination than ever.


	7. Chapter 7

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> There is a song I describe in this chapter that is influenced by 'Tides of Time' by the Dutch symphonic metal band, Epica. It's a very good song and I thought it fit perfectly for Mnemosyne's Pool.

Nico, having taken third watch over the night, woke Percy and Tayen up in the morning. Tayen rummaged through a belt bag that she had brought with her and drew forth three tiny vials, which she explained, were more or less a magical equivalent of an energy drink with supplements to keep them going. She also passed out Nature Valley bars that she had in her bag. Since they couldn't eat any food they found in the Underworld without being trapped there for eternity, the whole grain bars, while not exactly filling, would at least keep them from starving.

They ate as they moved, munching on the mortal snacks as Nico led them through the Underworld. They didn't have much time left. They had to find Mnemosyne's Pool before midnight, when it would shift its location again. Even if they found it in time, they had to hope Luke didn't reach it before they did, otherwise the whole point was completely moot – they were trying to keep the son of Hermes from finding the pool to restore his memories. And, in order to find the Pool of Memories, they had to figure out what the rhyme Makaria had given Percy meant.

Percy also felt that they needed to discuss what Eros had told him in his dream. He knew he could trust Nico and he was pretty sure he could trust Tayen – he wouldn't be traversing the Underworld with the older teen if he didn't – so he brought up the dream as they walked. Tayen was very interested in what Eros said, especially when Percy mentioned that Luke had been in love with him for a long time.

"He never admitted it, but Silena and I could tell," she said as she carefully stepped down a steep slope. It was already known that the daughter of Hecate had been pretty close to Luke during his years on the side of the Titans, but Percy wanted to know exactly how she knew the son of Hermes, so he urged her to continue. "Luke was confused about it for a long time, too. He was supposed to hate you, since you were on the Olympian side, his enemy. And he did hate you for a while."

"I could tell," Percy muttered, remembering, with vivid details, that first time Luke had tried to kill him directly. He let his fingers come absent-mindedly to the scar on his palm. "Eros said he realized it long ago, though."

Tayen shrugged. "I don't know when exactly he realized it. I didn't come aboard the _Princess Andromeda_ until it came down to Barbados and it was another six months before I even knew what was going on." She kicked a stone out of her path, watching it skid and tumble along the path. "I wasn't all that important in the ranks, if you can call the demigods and monsters that were in the Titan army 'ranks' at all, but I was someone willing to talk to Luke like a person, rather than just the guy kind of in charge."

"And that made a difference?"

Tayen gave Percy an unimpressed look, her dark eyes narrowing just slightly. "Look, Percy, I know you're new to this whole 'being in love with Luke' thing, but at the very least, you could try to understand him or at least our side. In the Titan army, we didn't have friends. We didn't have connections like everyone at Camp Half-Blood did. Luke had no one to trust except for Silena and I."

Percy gave a flinch and muttered an apology. When Tayen seemed to take it and move on, still following Nico as they walked through the Underworld, the son of Poseidon decided maybe it was time to drop the subject, in case he upset the older teen again. For a while, the three of them were silent as they moved along, occasionally just avoiding a conflict with some Underworld being – since they were on such a tight schedule, it was best to keep away from any fights. They had to keep moving.

Eventually, it seemed like Tayen had dropped the subject as well, keeping to herself again. Nico hadn't been very talkative since he'd discovered he was the son of Hades, so he was keeping to himself as well. In the silence, Percy found himself going over the things he knew for sure about Luke, the feelings he had for the older demigod and what he knew about Luke.

It didn't seem to make any sense to him at all that Luke had been in love with him for a long time. He was asking himself the same questions as before – if Luke loved him, why had he tried to kill him on so many occasions? Why had Luke remained on the Titans' side? Had Luke realized that loving Percy was too dangerous or something? And why has Luke asked Annabeth if she loved him when he came so close to dying on Olympus and not even look at Percy? Percy had no answers to these questions. He couldn't ask Luke, Tayen wasn't answering questions right now and she'd admitted that she didn't even know when Luke had realized his feelings.

He was going in circles. The same questions, the same lack of answers. Eros hadn't been a lot of help, just giving Percy more questions and answering none of the important ones. So now he knew that he was always meant to fall in love with Luke. Why? Aphrodite had decided to mess with his love life, keep him from realizing who his true love was, according to Eros. Again, why? Percy needed answers and the only one who could even begin to tell him what he needed to know, he was on a mission to stop from regaining the memories needed to give Percy answers.

Stopping in his tracks, the son of Poseidon stood in the middle of a rocky field, thinking. Tayen and Nico realized a minute later that Percy had stopped and both of them had turned around to look at him. Nico was silent, though he had his eyebrow arched towards Percy, as though that was enough to ask what Percy was doing. Tayen was a little more vocal.

"Percy, what are you doing?" she asked, giving an exasperated sigh. She moved to approach the younger demigod and try to get him moving again. "We don't have time for this. We have to keep moving. Luke could have already reached the Pool by now."

Percy looked at her. "What's the problem if he has?" he asked the daughter of Hecate. "He _wants_ to know what he's missing. He _knows_ that the cover story is a bunch of lies. Luke's looking for answers, so why not let him have them? So he remembers what happened. What's the problem there?"

Tayen looked taken aback by Percy's words, just completely stunned that the son of Poseidon would suddenly change his mind about stopping Luke. It had been Percy's idea to start with! "Percy - "

"Percy," Nico interrupted the daughter of Hecate, stepping forward until he was standing in front of Percy. Since Percy was taller than he was, he still had to look up to the son of Poseidon, lifting his head a couple inches until his dark eyes met with Percy's. "Drinking from the Pool of Memories can be incredibly dangerous for a living person. If Luke drinks its water, the memories that come back to him can easily drive him insane."

"Luke's biggest regret in life, since I've known him," Tayen spoke up from where she stood behind the son of Hades, "has been hurting you, Percy. It doesn't matter when he realized he loved you, what matters is that when he did realize it, he regretted ever hurting you." She looked the son of Poseidon hard in the eye. "Didn't you ever wonder why your side won more battles than you lost? Luke's been training for years longer than you have, he's had some of the strongest monsters at his disposal. And yet you still won. Luke took control of the Titan army to make sure you won."

Percy arched a brow at the dark girl. "You mean to say he handed me those victories? That I never won on my own strength?"

Tayen gave an exasperated sigh. "If Luke was handing you victories, the Titans would have figured him out. No, he was sending you challenges he knew would make you stronger, so you would be ready to do what was needed when the time came."

That made sense. Percy could see the logic behind it, a strategy that would have made Annabeth proud. It was sneaky, under-handed, but at the same time, direct and strong. Making Percy stronger with each challenge, each of the quests that the son of Poseidon had found himself on had been, from what Tayen said, to make sure that Percy won the war. Something, however, nagged at the demigod. If Luke had been somehow manipulating the war to make Percy stronger, then –

"Why did he let himself become Kronos' host?"

Tayen flinched as soon as Percy asked. It was clear that whatever the answer was, it was nothing good. For a moment, Percy thought that he'd pushed too far, gone into something that wasn't meant for him to know. He was half-afraid that the daughter of Hecate wasn't going to answer, though it was obvious that she knew the answer to the question.

"We should keep going," Nico said, quietly when neither of the older demigods spoke. They were still on a quest to reach Luke and if they stayed at a stop here, the son of Hermes would surely reach Mnemosyne's Pool far before they did.

"Wait," Tayen shook her head. Her eyes slipped shut and she gave a soft sigh of resignation before running a hand through her two-tone hair. She then looked to Percy with apprehension in her eyes. "He did it for you, Percy."

Percy's eyes widened at Tayen's answer. That...didn't make sense! "H-how could something like that be for me?" he gaped at the Barbadian. "How does...giving his body to Kronos..."

"How does that give you an edge?" Tayen asked, disheartened. She gave the son of Poseidon an uneasy smile. "Because he knew that, if anyone else became Kronos' host, you wouldn't stand a chance. It had to be him. Luke knew that he could fight Kronos' hold long enough to use the cursed blade on himself. Anyone else wouldn't have even wanted to fight Kronos and the 'cursed blade' wouldn't have worked on them."

Silence fell between the three demigods. Tayen had to have been close to Luke to know this information, more than just someone he could trust. She had to have been his friend. Percy realized this now, as he stood with the daughter of Hecate. She'd been Luke's friend, when friends were as dangerous to those in the Titan army as anything else. She'd stood by Luke's side, let him confide in her and held his secrets for him. And now he didn't even remember her.

It had to hurt her. Even more so, her intent to stop Luke from regaining his memories had to hurt her. Tayen was giving up what she'd been to the son of Hermes in order to protect him from memories she knew would hurt him. Her friendship with Luke was her sacrifice for his happiness.

"Do you understand now, Percy?" she asked the son of Poseidon. There was a distinct sadness in her voice as she spoke, like she knew that Percy did understand. "If Luke drinks from Mnemosyne's Pool and remembers what he's responsible for, everything that he's done to hurt you – even if it was with the intent on making you stronger – he won't be able to forgive himself. Those memories were erased for a reason, a very good reason. They have to stay erased."

Percy gave a nod. He still had a lot of questions, but those questions could always be answered later. Right now, he needed to throw his shoulders back, take a stand and move forward. Tayen and Nico were both right; they had to get to Luke. If Luke could really be hurt by his memories, maybe it was just better if he didn't have them.

* * * * *

Of course, traveling through the Underworld was never an easy task. Percy had done it a few times now; during his first quest, again when Persephone had summoned him, Nico and Thalia to retrieve the Sword of Hades, and then when Nico had led him through the Underworld to take a swim in the Styx. Each time, there had been some difficulties. With this latest quest, things were no different, even with two children of Underworld gods – Hecate, as a goddess of ghosts and friend to Persephone, had her own influences in the Underworld, thus Tayen had her own connection. The trio still ran into wayward spirits and dangerous Keres. These they had some trouble with. It didn't matter to the Keres who the three demigods were; they were living demigods and, therefore, had no business in the Underworld.

Between Nico's dark powers, Tayen's crossbow and Percy's sword, they eventually drove off the Keres, but now they had even less time to catch up with Luke and Percy still couldn't make sense of Makaria's rhyme. He heard no song, no voice to lead the way. They were running out of time. According to Nico's sense of time, it was already well past noon. They needed to figure out what the rhyme meant, how Percy could hear the song that Makaria had said would guide them to the Pool.

"Hey, Percy," Nico said, turning to the son of Poseidon. "What, exactly, did Eros say in the dream you mentioned?"

Percy took a moment to think, recalling the dream and the conversation he'd had with the god of love. He wasn't sure how much of the dream could be of use to them when it came to finding Luke or the Pool. "He said that my love for Luke would guide me to him," he told the other demigod. His hand came up to brush over the spot on his forehead where Eros had kissed him, promising him protection and a way to open his mind. "It sounds like a really bad cliché, but Eros said that love will open my mind."

Nico and Tayen both paused to mull over that. There were so many meanings to that, as many meanings as the rhyme that Makaria had given Percy. With time working against them and Luke still far ahead of them, they had to figure this out and figure it out now. Nico couldn't be much help with the words of the god of love, considering his status as the son of Hades – children of Hades had a particularly hard time with love, considering how much their father had upset Aphrodite by taking love into his own hands in kidnapping Persephone; never mind that the springtime goddess had fallen in love with Hades in time. Not to mention he only just turned thirteen and, thus, was too young to really understand love.

Tayen, though, had an inkling of an idea. "The rhyme said to 'open thy heart', right?" she asked. She took hold of the key-pendant around her neck, tugging it back and forth along its chain. "What if, theoretically, there's something holding your heart closed?"

Percy arched a brow at the Barbadian girl. "What do you mean?"

The daughter of Hecate furrowed her brow and ran her tongue over her lower lip, still hashing out her thoughts. "Percy, for the past year, you've been kind of, sort of, dating Annabeth," she told the younger demigod. Though Percy had only just come back to camp in June, a lot of the campers, especially the Aphrodite kids, had gossiped about the relationship between the son of Poseidon and the daughter of Athena; Percy and Annabeth were the new Brad and Angelina to the demigods of Camp Half-Blood. "Considering your recently surfaced feelings for Luke, your heart is going to be confused. You have feelings for Annabeth still, right?"

"Duh. She's one of my best friends," Percy replied. He'd had this same problem, figuring out what to do about his lingering feelings for Annabeth while realizing his love for Luke. "And, as you pointed out, we were 'kind of, sort of' dating. Of course I have feelings for her. It's just...not what she wants from me."

Tayen stepped closer to Percy, reaching out and putting a hand on the younger teen's shoulder. "I'll admit, I'm not entirely sure what I'm talking about," she said, keeping her voice gentle as she spoke to the son of Poseidon. "But... _maybe_ , you're meant to open your heart by letting go of what's holding you back."

"That's kind of a harsh way of putting it," Percy told the daughter of Hecate, giving a frown. "Annabeth's done so much for me. She's always been there for me, why would she be holding me back now?"

"Think about it, Percy," Nico told the older demigod. Young he may be and, yeah, he didn't understand love very well, but he'd at least picked up on what Tayen was thinking and Percy was failing to see. "It's not so much she's holding you back, but your heart's holding back. You need to let your heart open and, to do that, you need to clear things with Annabeth."

Percy blinked, momentarily confused. Then he realized that both Tayen and Nico were right. He, himself, had realized it a couple of days ago, when he'd tried to figure out how to tell the daughter of Athena. He'd missed his chance to explain himself, had been so caught up in telling Luke that he was in love with him that he'd completely blown off the girl he'd thought he loved. Well, in all honesty, he _did_ love Annabeth, just – as he'd said moments ago – not the way she deserved to be loved. Percy had ditched Annabeth at the fireworks in favor of Luke, without even giving her an explanation and, in doing so, he'd hurt her. Knowing that, his heart clenched.

"You're right," he said finally. He gave a nod, reaffirming the fact that the other two were right. "I have to tell her. But she's on Olympus. We're in the Underworld. How am I supposed to tell her anything? Iris-message her? That's the worst way of telling her."

Nico shook his head. "Iris-messaging doesn't work in the Underworld, anyways," he told Percy. "Iris doesn't have any power here, so she can't pass messages. The best bet would be to use the Hermes Express system."

"So what? He's going to write a letter to Annabeth?" Tayen asked, arching a brow. "How's that any better than breaking the news to her through an Iris-message?"

"I'm not going to," Percy said. "No. I need to tell her the truth face-to-face. Tayen, do you have any paper and a pen?"

"I thought you said you were telling her face-to-face?" Regardless of the question, the daughter of Hecate reached into her belt bag and pulled out a small flip pad and a small pen.

"I am. Just not until after we get back to the mortal plane. This is just to let her know we need to talk. I know I need to tell her the truth and I think that's enough."

Now Tayen and Nico both blinked at Percy while he scribbled a message onto a sheet of paper. The son of Hades was the first to speak up. "Is it enough?"

Percy nodded, giving a soft hum of acknowledgment. "I can hear it. Memory's voice."

Indeed, it was faint, but he could hear a song. It was in an ancient language, older than Greek, but familiar enough. It was a woman's voice singing, clear and very beautiful. He couldn't understand the words, but the way she was singing, he could understand the feeling of the song. It was a song of time past, of the present and a guide to the future. The song echoed, reaching through the caverns of the Underworld and to Percy's heart, tugging at him to guide him.

"You can hear the song?" Tayen asked softly. When Percy nodded again, the older demigod smiled. "Great! Which way do we need to go?"

Percy finished the note to Annabeth, then folded it up, wrote Olympus' address on the outside and pulled out a few drachma, praying that it would be enough for Hermes to receive and deliver the note. Thankfully, it seemed so; the note and drachma disappeared out of his hands with a small pop, leaving him empty-handed. Standing upright, the son of Poseidon closed his eyes and simply listened for a moment to pin down the direction the song was coming from.

"That way," he announced after a short while. He pointed the way and started forward. "Come on. We need to move."

* * * * *

With Percy now able to hear the song meant to guide them to Mnemosyne's Pool, the journey took much less time, but they still had to hurry. It was only Nico's sense of time that they knew the day was beginning to fade as they cut through the Asphodel Fields and crossed, carefully, the waters of Acheron, the River of Sorrow. The song grew louder, Memory's voice becoming stronger and clearer as Percy directed Nico and Tayen along. They had to change directions more than once and, as they got closer, there were more and more Underworld denizens that took notice of them.

Percy had known following Luke would be hard. He hadn't realized, though, that it would be this hard. Granted, the son of Poseidon had only been in the Underworld three times before – once to find his mother, a second time on a quest for Persephone and the third time to gain invincibility at Nico's urging. The first and third times had been relatively easy, the second being his introduction to the flying nasties known as the Keres. This time, though, things were more difficult than ever, probably because Mnemosyne's Pool was supposed to be heavily guarded.

No shit, Sherlock.

Percy swore that someone had to be messing with him, making things harder than necessary. It seemed every time he thought the path was clear, one more obstacle appeared in the way. The moment that he got Tayen and Nico across the Acheron, they were attacked again, this time by surprise. Percy had been tying off the small raft they'd found to get across the river and, no sooner than he pulled Riptide out of his pocket, he found himself wrapped up, tightly, in the long, diamond-patterned coils of a lamia. He tried to call out to warn Tayen and Nico, but the lamia covered his mouth with her hand. A yelp of surprise told him that Nico had been caught, too.

"What do we have here?" the lamia holding Percy asked. Her voice was cold, whispered and just this side of hissing. "Demigods. It's not often we have demigods in our part of the Underworld, is it, Evadne?"

The lamia who held Nico gave a soft hiss. "Unless you count that cursed son of Hermes that killed our poor Jacinda."

 _Luke_. Percy's heart skipped a beat when the lamie, Evadne, spoke of a son of Hermes. It could have only been Luke that they were speaking of. If the lamiae had seen Luke, then he knew they were going in the right direction. He struggled to get free from his captor's grip, but the lamia who held him had him very tightly caught in her coils.

"Release them!"

Tayen stood, free, a few feet away, Kleidion in crossbow form and celestial-bronze tipped arrow at the ready, aimed directly at the lamia holding Percy. The older demigod had a serious expression on her face; she definitely meant business when she told the lamiae to release Nico and Percy. Percy wasn't sure how Tayen was going to handle two lamiae on her own, but before he could begin to speculate, Evadne gave a hiss.

"Stacia, she's one of Hecate's girls."

Stacia gave a hiss of her own, the sound right by Percy's ear. "What would a daughter of our mistress be doing here?"

Tayen kept her crossbow steady, dark eyes taking on a slight violet glow with her magic. "That is my business," she told the lamia, cooly. "Release them. You will not feed on these two."

"Oh, but it is so rare that we feast on demigods so powerful," Evadne told Tayen. She kept Nico tight in her own coils, the same diamond-pattern as Stacia's. Her fingernails, painted a shiny black, ran over the younger demigod's neck. "Surely we could have just a bite?"

Tayen glared at Evadne. "You would not risk incurring both my wrath and that of my mother. You will release both of them, unharmed, or, indeed, my mother will hear of it."

The two lamiae hissed in unison, then reluctantly gave up their prey. Neither of them were pleased that the two sons of the Big Three were accompanied by one of Hecate's daughters; had they been alone, the boys would have been a welcome feast for the lamiae. With their noses haughtily in the air, Evadne and Stacia started to slither away.

"Wait!" Percy called after them. "What about the son of Hermes?"

"What of him?" Evadne asked.

"Where is he? What have you done with him?"

Stacia gave a snort and flipped her dark brown braids over her shoulder. Now that Percy could see her, he was surprised by how lovely the lamia was – until he reached her waist, where her body shifted to end in a long snake tail. She had dark skin, nearly the same dirty brown as her hair, with scattered black, gold and brown scales over her skin. Her yellow eyes, really _yellow_ , were slit-pupiled like a serpent's. She wore only a dull red shirt that proudly exclaimed 'With a shirt like this, who needs pants?' Had the situation been a little less urgent, Percy would have been cracking up at that, but he needed an answer from the monster.

"The jerk killed our sister and ran off," she told Percy. Her dark hand came up to point towards a rocky passage nearby. "He headed that way about an hour ago."

"There's nothing that way, though," Evadne shrugged. She looked almost exactly like Stacia, though her hair was cut super short, with long bangs that crossed diagonally across her forehead. She just had a plain black tanktop. "I don't know what he's after, but he's not going to find much that way. Now, if you don't mind, since little Miss Daughter-of-Hecate won't let us have a taste of you, we're going to go hunting."

"By your leave, then," Tayen told them, though she kept her crossbow up, in case the lamiae changed their minds. She only lowered it when both Stacia and Evadne were out of sight, having slithered down the shore.

"I guess we should thank you," Percy told her, coming over to the daughter of Hecate.

"I _did_ just save you from being eaten by creepy snake girls," Tayen replied, letting Kleidion return to pendant form. She slipped the necklace over her head and let it drop to her chest. Actually, she'd been pretty lucky about them running into lamiae; any other servants of her mother might not have been so accommodating. "But we're in a hurry, remember? Save the thanks for _after_ we catch up with Luke. You heard that lamia; Luke's only an hour ahead of us. We can still reach him."

Percy nodded. After making sure that Nico was alright – the son of Hades was a little grossed out by Evadne's coils, but otherwise fine – he led his friends towards the passage that Stacia had pointed out. The song he'd heard was louder than ever and he knew, despite what Evadne had said about nothing being this way, that Mnemosyne's Pool wasn't that far off. And if Luke had only just run into these lamiae an hour ago, then there was definitely still a chance of Percy, Nico and Tayen catching up with him.

They just had to reach him before he got to the Pool.

* * * * *

The song was at its loudest, the voice of the woman singing as strong and crystal clear as if Percy was sitting in front of her, listening to her perform just for him. Her voice echoed through the caverns of the Underworld, a beautiful, soprano voice, singing those ancient words in a slow, but heart-wrenching crescendo. As they'd gotten closer and closer, both Tayen and Nico began to hear the song as well, as it became more and more corporeal. As they hiked down from the path they were on, they saw, about fifty feet ahead of them, a wall of stone, with an hole cut through its surface.

Light shone through the hole, a soft, warm golden glow in an otherwise cold and dark area of the Underworld. Percy knew, right away, that hole was the entrance to Mnemosyne's Pool. It couldn't be anything else. The song drifted out from that entry. In front, a group of young women stood guard. These women were lampades, the torch-bearing nymphs of the Underworld. Percy was reminded of the pseudo-goth girls he saw at his high school during the school year - they all had long hair, either bleach blonde or silky black, their skin was pale and they wore dark clothes; actually, it looked like their entire wardrobe had come straight out of Hot Topic. They all wore black eyeliner and varying shades of red lipstick.

Percy led Tayen and Nico closer, hand wrapped around Riptide, ready to uncap and extend it to sword form if the need came. As he approached the hole in the wall, he tried to look past the guards and into the grotto behind them. He could see strange plants growing around it, like Persephone had been helping Mnemosyne grow a truly unique garden around her pool. He could just see the edges of the pool, a glassy basin filled with silver liquid, as if it weren't water at all that laid within the pool.

Bringing his attention back to the guards, Percy's eyes widened as he realized that one of the group was not a guard at all. It was Luke. The son of Hermes stood in front of the guards, sword sheathed, back to Percy. With heart beating wildly in his chest, Percy broke out into a run to catch up with the older demigod.

"Luke!"


	8. Chapter 8

It was probably the biggest surprise Luke had ever had in his life when he whirled around to see Percy, Nico and Tayen crossing the distance to catch up with him, the son of Poseidon at the head. Blue eyes widened in shock, mouth gaping open, the older demigod had no idea how to react; it was incredibly difficult to shock a child of Hermes and, Luke being the best of them, he was the hardest of all to catch off guard. However, it was clear that Luke Castellan was completely thrown for a loop when Percy Jackson ran up to him.

"Percy!" he exclaimed. "Gods damn it, I _told_ you – "

Percy cut the son of Hermes off with a kiss, standing on his toes (Luke was a full four inches taller than he was, after all) and throwing his arms over the older demigod's shoulders as their lips crashed together, like waves breaking against the shore. It was enough to bring Luke to complete silence, no protest at all from the older demigod. Percy put every strong feeling he felt for the son of Hermes into the kiss, wanting Luke to understand how he felt. And, for a long minute, Luke's tension seemed to ease, body relaxing as he wrapped his arms around the son of Poseidon and started to kiss back, a similar need for understanding in the way Luke returned the kiss.

"That is _so_ hot," one of the lampades murmured, unable to take her ghostly green eyes off the two demigods.

"Acantha, quiet!" another of the girls hissed. She, too, was having trouble looking away from Luke and Percy, but she at least had the decency to be blushing as she stared.

When Percy finally broke the kiss, taking in a soft gasp of air as he did, he pressed his forehead against Luke's, eyes half-closed. He paid no mind to the lampades, didn't give it a second thought that he'd just thoroughly kissed Luke in front of a group of strangers, with Nico and Tayen also watching as they caught up. Luke definitely didn't seem to mind the exhibition, if the way he brought his hand up to cup Percy's face and pull him in for a second kiss was anything to judge by. This kiss lasted just as long, was just as deep and, according to the lampades that couldn't avert their gaze, just as hot.

"I told you not to follow me, Perce," Luke murmured when he broke the second kiss. His lips were barely a centimetre from Percy's, so they brushed against the younger demigod's lips as he spoke. "I didn't want you following me."

"I know," Percy replied. He knew that Luke felt that he had to do this, that the son of Hermes hadn't wanted Percy to come after him, to stop him. At the same time, Percy knew what the consequences could be and how those consequences could hurt Luke; he didn't want Luke hurt. "Luke, do you absolutely need to do this?"

Tayen opened her mouth from where she stood off to the side, ready to point out exactly what she'd been telling Percy during their whole journey through the Underworld – that Luke didn't need to regain his memories – but Nico placed a cool hand on her arm. The daughter of Hecate turned to the young son of Hades and Nico gave a shake of his head. This was not their place to speak.

Luke looked at Percy, blue-gold eyes searching pure sea-green ones for a long moment, as if just looking into Percy's eyes would provide the son of Hermes with the answers he needed. For being the son of the Lord of Words, Luke seemed to be at a complete loss for what to say. His fingers carded through the son of Poseidon's hair, thumb brushing over Percy's cheek as he held onto the younger demigod for a while.

Just as Luke was about to answer, it seemed, the lampade guards shifted, all of them turning to the mouth of the cavern, each of them lifting their left hand to rest over their chest. Luke, Percy, Nico and Tayen all followed the lampades' gaze to the cavern entrance and realized that the guards were paying respect to the woman who stepped through.

There was no doubt in any of their minds who she was. She radiated power, power older than that of the gods. Dressed in a traditional Greek peplos, vibrant green in color, the Titaness stepped barefoot from the cavern, her pale blue eyes focused on Luke and Percy. There was no natural wind in the Underworld, but her cascading red hair danced about her face. Though she was a deity older than the gods themselves, she didn't look much older than Luke.

"My lady." The lampade that had hushed her companion moments ago spoke up, looking to the Titaness. "This demigod had come to - "

"I am quite aware of why Luke Castellan has come here," the Titaness cut off the guard. She lifted one hand to dismiss the Underworld nymphs that acted as her guards. She padded over in silence, approaching Luke and Percy.

Luke released Percy from his grasp, turning to Mnemosyne, standing tall and strong in the face of the Titan goddess. Percy knew that Mnemosyne wouldn't harm them, could tell it from the soft kindness in the goddess' eyes. Even so, he reached out to grab the hem of Luke's shirt. Mnemosyne's eyes fell to the hand Percy had gripping the fabric of the son of Hermes' shirt for a brief moment before she stopped only a foot from Luke. She was a tall woman, but Luke was still taller than her, so she had to tilt her head up to meet the demigod's gaze.

"You have journeyed far, son of the Traveler," she said. Her voice was clear and strong as she addressed Luke. Percy could recognize her voice from the song that he had followed to find this place. "You seek Memory, to drink of the Pool and restore that which you have lost. "

Luke gave a nod. "There is too much that I'm missing," he replied. "Too much that I am unable to understand. I need to know the truth, know why my memories were taken away."

Mnemosyne didn't move, didn't break her gaze away from the son of Hermes' eyes. "You understand the dangers that can come from regaining memories that were locked away?" Before Luke could answer, she raised her hand for silence. "Wait, time runs short. The Pool will shift momentarily. Come with me to my garden, all of you."

The lampades gestured for the demigods to follow the Titaness to the cavern where her garden was. Luke moved first, pulling away from Percy's grip. The son of Poseidon stood where he was for a moment, watching Luke follow Mnemosyne into the cavern and it was only Nico's prodding that got Percy moving again. Tayen walked just after the two Big Three sons, with the lampade guards following her, carrying their torches as they brought up the rear of the group.

As they entered the cavern, Percy, Luke, Tayen and Nico could really see just how vast it was. The expanse spread at least the size of a football field and every inch of it was abundant with life – something that seemed so out of place in the realm of the dead. The Pool was the obvious focus of the garden, with all the plants around it only enhancing the silvery beauty of the Pool. A carefully laid stone path wove through the garden, across a small foot bridge over the Pool and to a stone gazebo overlooking the water.

"This place is beautiful," Tayen breathed, wandering over to one of the plants in the garden. Very gently, she brought her hand up to touch the deep burgundy petals of the flowers hanging from the branches. "I've never seen a plant like this."

"You wouldn't," Mnemosyne told her, a soft, sad tone in her voice. "That particular plant went extinct in your world in the late sixteenth century." The Titaness gestured around her. "All of these plants are the what is left of wild flora that has gone extinct on the mortal plane. I keep them here, in my Garden of Memories."

Percy was reminded, as Mnemosyne informed Tayen that the plants here were extinct, of the cave where he and his friends came face-to-face with the now faded God of the Wild, Pan. In that cave, Pan had had companions, animals that had long since disappeared on the mortal plane. Mnemosyne's garden was much like that; full of memories and shadows of that which mankind had lost long ago. Percy looked up to see the Titaness gazing at him, those pale blue eyes filled with a sort of sadness that gave the son of Poseidon the impression that Mnemosyne knew what he and his friends had witnessed in that subterranean cave.

She didn't say anything about it, though, which made Percy a little relieved. Instead, she gestured to the group to follow her along the path to the gazebo. The group fell silent as they moved through the garden, Percy following just beside Luke with Nico and Tayen behind them. The lampade guards remained at the cavern's entrance, none of them daring to step foot near the garden with their torches.

Inside the gazebo, there were seats along the walls and a round table in the center. Mnemosyne stepped around the table and sat down, signaling for the demigods to do the same. The moment they did, silver platters and goblets materialized in front of them, with seemingly fresh-prepared meals of fish, bread and cool cucumber slices. The goblets were filled with crystal-clear water, definitely not filled with the silvery water of the Pool.

Percy eyed the food as his stomach grumbled quietly. He, Tayen and Nico hadn't eaten since they'd left Camp Half-Blood almost two days ago, save for a couple of whole-grain bars that the daughter of Hecate had brought out of her belt bag in the morning. Of course, Luke probably hadn't eaten in a longer amount of time, having had a full day's head-start on them – though he might have packed some provisions for himself; none of them quite knew. The only thing keeping all of them from digging right in was the fact that they were in the Underworld and, as Nico had pointed out more than once during this journey, Underworld food would trap them here.

"You needn't worry about being stuck in the Underworld," Mnemosyne pointed out, a gentle smile over her lips. "This cavern is untouched by the laws of my nephew's realm. My food will not trap you here. Go ahead. Eat. I would be a horrible host if I did not give you the hospitality of a good meal."

Only somewhat skeptical, Percy picked up the fork on the side of his plate and speared a cucumber slice. He didn't mean to be ungrateful to the Titaness, but he just couldn't eat fish – not when fish everywhere looked to him with awe, being the son of Poseidon. Mnemosyne seemed to realize this and gave a snap of her fingers. The fish on Percy's plate was instantly replaced with lamb brisket.

"My apologies, Perseus Jackson," the Titaness said, giving a small, embarrassed smile.

"It's not a problem, really," Percy replied. He thanked Mnemosyne for the change anyways. He really was hungry and, after another short moment of hesitation, ate the cucumber slice he'd picked up. The son of Poseidon felt nothing strange after eating, but then, how did one tell if the food they ate bound them to a realm?

At any rate, Mnemosyne urged the others to eat and, not wanting to offend her, Luke, Tayen and Nico all followed Percy's example and started to eat. The Titaness of Memory ate her own meal, to be courteous, and, throughout the meal, no one said anything about Luke's self-appointed mission to come drink of the Pool of Memories. In fact, they actually ate in silence. Mnemosyne didn't seem to mind.

It was only when they were all done eating and the plates disappeared with a wave of Mnemosyne's hand that the Titaness spoke up.

"As I understand," she said, focusing her gaze on Luke, "you've already pieced together that your memories were washed clean by the waters of the Lethe. That is why you came here to me, yes?"

Luke nodded, blue-gold eyes focused on the ancient goddess sitting across the table from him. "I know that something in my past has been hidden from me," he replied. "Too much is missing. I don't know what is missing and I'm losing my mind trying to figure it out."

The son of Hermes closed his eyes, leaning back against the wall of the gazebo. For a moment, he didn't say anything else, didn't open his eyes, but finally, he let his eyes slip back open and his gaze swept over the other three demigods sitting around him. He lingered when his eyes fell on Percy and the son of Poseidon met the older man's gaze. Neither of them spoke, just took a long moment to look at each other.

Many times, Percy had looked at Luke and seen nothing but harsh anger in the son of Hermes' eyes. Even in the beginning, when they'd first met, Luke's eyes had been colder than many of those belonging the messenger god's children. That coldness had only gotten deeper after Luke had left the camp, after the confrontation between him and Percy, where Luke had denounced the gods, sent a pit scorpion after Percy and left him there to die.

Percy's hands fell under the table, where he ran his fingers over the scar on his hand. He caught the way Luke's gaze followed his hands under the table, the way the gold in Luke's irises seemed to dull and disappear as the older demigod watched him. Something in the way Luke looked at Percy again told the son of Poseidon that the blond man knew where that scar had come from, what had happened that Percy had received it. Somehow, Luke remembered it.

Luke finally tore his gaze from the younger demigod and focused again on Mnemosyne. "I need to know what was taken from me. I understand the dangers that come with drinking from your pool, Lady Mnemosyne, but it's something I must do."

Percy wanted to argue that Luke _didn't_ need to do this. Wasn't it better that the son of Hermes didn't remember what had happened over the last four years? Those memories had been erased for a reason. What good would it do to get them back, when all gaining them would do was cause Luke pain? The son of Poseidon looked between Luke and Mnemosyne, then to Tayen, who had been Luke's closest confidant on the Titans' side. They'd come to stop Luke, to tell him that the memories didn't matter, when Luke had a second chance.

Before Percy could say anything, though, Mnemosyne gave a shake of her head, her long red hair swinging and falling over her pale shoulders.

"It's not necessary, Luke Castellan," she told the son of Hermes. She met the demigod's eyes again, a small smile curling over her lips. "I don't mean to say that you came here in vain, but drinking from the Pool of Memories is a dangerous choice when you already have another option."

That had all four of the demigods sitting around Mnemosyne pausing. Percy glanced at Luke again, before looking to Nico and Tayen. Both the son of Hades and the daughter of Hecate looked back at him with a shrug, neither of them really knowing what the Titaness was talking about. The only other option they had thought of was for Luke to just go on without his memories. What other option was there?

As if sensing the confusion amongst the demigods, Mnemosyne folded her fingers together, propped her elbows on the table and rested her chin over her hands. "Memories are never truly gone, even by the Lethe's power," she explained. "They can be restored by drinking of my Pool, yes, but there are other ways."

"What other ways?" Luke asked.

The Titaness smiled. "I think you've already pieced that together, too, Luke." She pulled her hands apart and, curling one fist under her chin, she waved her other hand towards Percy. "You know about the scar on Percy Jackson's hand, yes?"

Percy started, not expecting for Mnemosyne to know about that. He lifted his hand up, placing it palm up on the table, revealing the white almost star-burst shaped scar over the curve of his thumb. He caught Luke looking at it, pain in his eyes.

"I did that to him," Luke said, quietly. "I sent a pit scorpion after him. I tried to kill him. And I don't know why."

Mnemosyne nodded. "You remember doing that. You've already unlocked that memory, proving that there is, as I've said, another way. A safer way. For a living being to drink from the Pool of Memories is very dangerous. They can become trapped within their memories, lost in the past, and forget to move on towards their future."

That had Luke stopping. A child of Hermes was always one that favored freedom, abhorred being trapped. Percy knew that inherent dislike of being contained was part of why Luke had initially joined with the Titans. It was clear from the expression on Luke's face now that the idea of being trapped, even by his own memories, was not something Luke wanted to go through.

"Luke," Mnemosyne spoke up again. "Look around you. You have three people who came here to try to convince you that drinking from my Pool is not the path you need to take. These three have faced the same dangers of the Underworld as you have on their journey here, for your sake. Why do you suppose they did that?"

Luke looked to Percy, sitting near him, then to Tayen and Nico. "They know my past, just like everyone else at the camp does," he replied. He knew that there were a lot of people at Camp Half-Blood who knew his past, but none of them were saying anything to him. He asked questions and rarely got answers – even when he _did_ get answers, they were vague. Something big had happened to him and he didn't know what it was, only that it had thrown the camp into chaos and _no one_ was giving him the answers he needed. "And they're just as silent as the rest of them."

"There's a lot in the past that would hurt," Tayen spoke up. She'd been all but silent since they'd sat down in the gazebo, letting Mnemosyne speak to Luke and Luke speak to Mnemosyne. The daughter of Hecate had her arms crossed over her chest, one hand upright and toying with the bronze key pendant that turned into her weapon. "We can't tell you outright because of what the gods have decreed and even if we could, there is too much that could hurt you, Luke. None of us want that."

Percy gave a nod of agreement, as did Nico. The son of Hades might not know Luke nearly as well as Tayen or Percy did, but he understood the pain that came with regaining memories. Too often was he haunted by the memory he'd woken when he pushed for answers, the memory of a lightning-struck building and his mother's death. If anyone sitting in that gazebo could truly understand Luke and his need for the truth, it was Nico.

"If you continue to seek answers," the son of Hades told Luke, dark eyes focusing on the older demigod from where they were almost hidden under his long bangs, "you will not like what you find. You said that you're losing your mind trying to understand what you're missing, but finding the answers could very easily make you lose your mind that much faster."

Luke looked at the son of Hades for a moment, studying the young teen's face. He had only met Nico, to his knowledge, just this last year, but of all the people at Camp Half-Blood, Nico was one of the few who had been there for him when everyone else shunned him. The two of them had a rather tentative friendship, but there was a sense of understanding between them and Luke trusted Nico. After a long moment, Luke gave a nod.

"I'm aware of that," he said. There was a definite determination in the son of Hermes' voice. "I know the dangers. I know - " here, Luke paused and glanced at Percy, then to Tayen, " - that there are things in my past that can hurt me, things that I probably won't like. I just need to know the truth and I won't get it by doing nothing."

Now Luke turned back to Mnemosyne, steadfastly meeting the Titaness' gaze. "The safer way," he began. "Unlocking my own memories, right?" At Mnemosyne's nod, the son of Hermes continued, "If I chose to go the safer way, how long would it take?"

The Titaness thought about that for a moment. "Every case is different," she explained. Many mortal amnesiacs could unlock their memories, given time and help. There was no telling exactly how long it would take the son of Hermes to regain his memories, if he ever regained all of them. "However, you've already taken steps. You have an advantage to use. Your father, Hermes, is the god of connections, amongst other things. Use the connections you have, to those around you."

Luke considered that. It was clear from the way his brow crinkled and lips pulled down that he was working out what the Titaness was saying. Percy was sure that the older demigod knew what Mnemosyne was talking about – though it didn't make sense to him; then again, Percy was not the child of Hermes, so he didn't know all that much about the extent of what the Thief Lord's children were capable of. The son of Poseidon kept his eyes on Luke, waiting for Luke's answer.

However, if Luke had an answer, he didn't say it out loud. Mnemosyne, apparently, didn't need Luke to speak, as she gave a nod of understanding. She announced that she would extend her hospitality through the night and help the demigods return to the mortal plane in the morning. Leading them through the gardens again, this time, the Titaness took the quartet to a building in the back of the cavern – which was infinitely larger than it had appeared – and showed them to a room with four beds, where her guardians slept in alternating shifts. Mnemosyne told them all to get some sleep before disappearing into her own chambers.

Tayen and Nico, both being comfortable in the Underworld, were able to fall asleep easily, both of them out relatively quickly after crawling into the beds readied for them. Percy got into bed, but wound up laying awake, mind too busy to let him rest. He curled onto his side, eyes watching Luke as the son of Hermes paced around the room for a few minutes before going over to the window overlooking Mnemosyne's garden. As Percy watched, the son of Poseidon found himself really questioning what Luke's answer was.

Was Luke going to stick to this idea of letting the memories come back to him? What, exactly, had Mnemosyne meant about Hermes, Luke and connections? If Luke's memories came back, what would that mean for them? That question, above the others, stood out in Percy's mind. He could forgive Luke for the things that had happened. He'd seen, through Hestia and Hermes, through talking to May, what had happened to make Luke side with Kronos in the first place and, after finding everything out, had understood the older demigod much more.

It wasn't that Luke was entirely blameless, but it was clear to Percy that Luke had been used, manipulated and twisted by the Titan lord. He'd been left alone by a father who couldn't change his future, frightened away by a mother who was trapped in her own mind, pitied by fellow demigods who saw his first quest as a failure. His closest friend had died protecting him, his other close friend caught up in the excitement of having so many kids who were in the same situation as she was. Kronos had taken advantage of the downs in Luke's life and used them to bend the son of Hermes to his will.

Would everything that Luke had done with the Titans, everything he'd done against the Olympians, against the camp, against Percy, really affect any relationship that the two of them might have? Tayen had told Percy that Luke's biggest regret was hurting him, Luke already realized that he had hurt Percy and, if Mnemosyne was right and Luke could bring his own memories back, the son of Hermes would know of things worse than a pit scorpion.

"Percy, you're thinking too hard."

Luke's voice surprised the son of Poseidon, making Percy start in bed. He looked up and saw the older demigod standing in front of him, having moved over while Percy was deep in thought. Though the room was dark, light from the gardens outside filtered in through the decorative window, giving just enough light for Percy to see the son of Hermes. "Luke."  
"Your nose scrunches up when you're thinking too hard," Luke told him, an amused smirk over his lips. He sat down on the edge of the younger demigod's bed as Percy moved to sit up. "You should be sleeping. We're going home tomorrow."

Something about the way Luke called it home, the way Luke said 'we're' made a warm feeling bubble up in Percy's chest. "Yeah," he said, letting his lips curl just slightly. Home sounded good. "We've been away long enough."

Luke nodded. "Bet everyone's wondering where you are. The great Percy Jackson doesn't just disappear without everyone noticing."

Percy's smile faltered now. Though Luke's words were said with a teasing tone, there was still an undertone of envy in the older demigod's voice. He wasn't sure what exactly Luke had been told about the war, since Percy preferred to avoid the subject like the plague – he'd lost too much during the war, too many friends. However, who didn't talk about how Percy had saved Olympus? Who didn't praise the son of Poseidon for his heroic actions? The gods themselves had offered him the honor of immortality for everything he'd done for them.

"I'm not so great," he told Luke. "Yeah, I saved the world, but so what? I lost a lot of friends, I'm always going to be that guy who saved Olympus and, after everything, I couldn't hold a relationship for more than a few months before realizing it wasn't going to work. And now I'm in love with you and I don't know how we're even going to work."

"Why wouldn't we?" Luke asked. The son of Hermes leaned in, bringing his hand up to cup Percy's cheek. His thumb stroked over the younger demigod's lips, keeping Percy from speaking. "You're in love with me, Perce. You know I'm in love with you. Whatever happened between us in the past doesn't matter now, right?"

 _Except that it **does**_ , Percy couldn't help thinking. Luke spoke of their past as if they hadn't been the worst of enemies in the middle of a monstrous war that threatened the very existence of their world. _You don't even know how bad things really were._

He must have been thinking too hard again, because Luke realized that something was still on Percy's mind. The older demigod brought his free arm around Percy's waist and tugged the son of Poseidon over to him. Drawing the teen closer, Luke tangled his fingers in Percy's hair, then brought their lips together in a long, slow kiss. If his intention had been to get Percy to completely stop thinking, he certainly succeeded, as the younger demigod immediately relaxed in Luke's arms, bringing his own arms up to curl over the son of Hermes' shoulders.

Luke kept the kiss going for a while, holding Percy close to him, refusing to let go of the teen. He deepened the kiss, slipping his tongue through Percy's lips and exploring, prodding, tasting every inch of the son of Poseidon's mouth. It drew a soft moan from the younger demigod, who curled in closer to Luke on instinct, wanting more of that kiss, more of Luke's own warmth.

And then Luke's hand was slipping under Percy's shirt to rest over the small of the younger demigod's back, fingers brushing against a small spot that suddenly sent a jolt up Percy's spine, causing him to break the kiss with a gasp.

"Perce, are you alright?" Luke asked, concern in his voice and eyes as he grasped Percy's shoulders to keep him from pulling away.

"I...I'm fine..." Percy nodded. He was completely breathless, he was sure his lips were kiss-swollen and his back was tingling from the sudden touch to the only vulnerable point on his body. Eyes slipping shut, the son of Poseidon took a moment to let himself recover from that. It hadn't hurt or anything; the jolt that had coursed through his body at the touch had been quite pleasurable, actually. Just unexpected. Recalling the time that Annabeth had touched his Achilles' spot, Percy couldn't remember the touch having quite that effect.

Regaining his composure, Percy looked up at Luke, catching the concern in the older demigod's pure blue eyes. "I'm alright, Luke," he told the son of Hermes. He'd rather liked that sensation that had come to him with Luke's touch. Leaning back in towards the older demigod, Percy pressed his lips against Luke's again, this time briefly. "Though I think we both need to get some sleep."

Luke gave a nod, a smile curling over his lips. There was something devious about the smile on his lips though and he didn't make a move to leave Percy's bed. Instead, the son of Hermes wrapped his arms around the younger demigod and shifted so that he was laying down with Percy curled on top of him. "Sleep sounds good," he murmured. He pressed a brief kiss to Percy's temple. "I think I like your bed more, though."

Percy laughed softly, then nestled against Luke, reaching over and pulling the blankets over both of them. "Fair enough."


	9. Chapter 9

Percy was vaguely aware of a pair of strong arms around him when he woke up in the morning, of a source of warmth beside him that he knew he didn't usually wake up to. His eyes were still closed, but he was more than aware of Luke's presence right next to him. The son of Poseidon was far too comfortable where he was to even think of why Luke was there, where they were or, even, who else was also there; until, of course, there was an amused snort from a few feet away. Percy let his eyes finally snap open as he caught sight of Tayen sitting up on the bed she'd slept in overnight.

"Just couldn't stay out of Luke's bed, could you, Jackson?" Tayen teased.

Percy gave a small groan and buried his face in the crook of Luke's neck, much to both Tayen and Luke's amusement. "Technically speaking, this is _my_ bed and _Luke_ just couldn't stay out of it."

Tayen only snorted again. As did Luke, who had clearly been awake for a while - since he'd apparently already gotten up and re-dressed before coming back to Percy's bed, where he'd wrapped his arms around the son of Poseidon and simply watched over him while the younger demigod slept on. The son of Hermes pressed his lips against Percy's hair and finally let go of him. "Come on, Percy," Luke said. "It's time to get up."

Rather reluctant to pull away from the warmth that Luke's body offered, Percy pushed himself up and swung his legs over the edge of the bed. "Are we leaving soon?"

"Just as soon as Nico gets back," Luke replied. "He went to talk to Mnemosyne about how to get back to the mortal realm from here."

Percy nodded, then stretched with a yawn. He was just a little exhausted still, despite finally getting a proper bit of sleep. His stomach was rumbling a bit as well, the meal Mnemosyne had offered them apparently long enough ago that the son of Poseidon was definitely hungry. Getting up, Percy checked the pockets of the jeans he wore to make sure Riptide was still there, as habit, despite knowing the blade would always return to him.

He rather looked forward to going home. Being in the Underworld wasn't exactly pleasant for him, far too many reminders of past experiences there – of coming in search of his mother, of being dragged there to help search for the sword Persephone had had forged for Hades, of being locked in a cell by the Lord of the Dead himself. Even with the rather nice experiences of visiting Elysium and, now, Mnemosyne's garden, Percy longed for the mortal realm, for the beach at Camp Half-Blood, the scent of the ocean he felt so at home in.

Percy must have looked rather nostalgic because Luke came over to him and wrapped his arms around the younger demigod. "We're going home, Perce," the son of Hermes murmured into Percy's ear. "We're all going home, together."

"Sooner than you think," Nico announced as he stepped back into the room. The son of Hades arched his brow at Luke and Percy, but didn't say anything about the intimate way Luke had the son of Poseidon held against him. "Mnemosyne told me the way to get back to the mortal realm. We've shifted since we came here, so we're no longer near the Acheron, which would have led us out to the Columbia River, on the Oregon and Washington border."

"That wouldn't have been much help," Tayen muttered, arms crossed over her chest. "That's all the way across the country from the camp. I mean, I know there's an airport in Portland, but neither you nor Percy can fly."

"Which is why it's a good thing that, as I've mentioned, the Acheron is not near where we are now," Nico pointed out. "We're actually closer to Father's palace now, so we can go back to the mortal world basically the same way we came in."

"Around Hades' palace and through to Central Park, right?" Luke asked.

Nico gave a nod. "Of course, it's still a couple hours' walk back to there. Mnemosyne has invited us for breakfast before we leave as well."

"That's good," Percy said. He pulled gently out of Luke's arms – much to the older demigod's clear dismay – and went to grab his shoes. "I'm starved."

"So am I," Luke spoke up. "Though I think you and I are talking about two different kinds of 'starved.'"

Tayen rolled her eyes. "Luke, that was uncalled for."

The son of Hermes grinned at her. "What can I say? I'm a son of Hermes, Tay-Dye."

That had the Barbadian girl pausing and staring at the older demigod. Her arms dropped from where she'd had them crossed over her chest as she gaped. It was one of the first times that Percy had ever seen the rather cool and calm daughter of Hecate surprised and he found out why a moment later. "Luke, you haven't called me that in a long time," she said.

Luke gave a pause of his own and looked back at the girl, one brow arched. "I call you that all the time."

Tayen pulled her lower lip into her mouth and shook her head. "You did," she told him. "A long time ago. Not since you came back to camp though."

"Because of my memories being wiped, right?" Luke asked.

Tayen hesitated again, then gave a nod of her head. "I'm...really glad you remembered. I kind of missed my old nickname."

Percy could tell by the exchange between daughter of Hecate and son of Hermes that there was much more to the two of them than he'd known previously. Even with Tayen explaining a few things during the journey through the Underworld, it was clear that the whole story hadn't been told. He was really curious about it, but now was not the time to go into long explanations, especially with the oath sworn on the Styx still holding them back. Tayen wouldn't be able to tell the whole story and Luke couldn't remember the whole story – yet.

"Let's go see Mnemosyne for breakfast," Tayen spoke up suddenly, changing the subject and turning on her heel to head out of the room before Luke could stop her.

Luke gave a frown from his place and turned to Percy. There really wasn't anything that the son of Poseidon could say to Luke, though; since he didn't know what had happened between Tayen and Luke during the war with the Titans, he certainly couldn't explain anything, even if the oath wasn't holding him back. "Let's go, Luke," he told the older demigod. "We don't want to keep breakfast, or Mnemosyne, waiting."

* * * * *

Some time after breakfast, the small group of demigods finally gave Mnemosyne their thanks and said their farewells as they headed out of the cavern that housed the Titaness' garden and home. With Luke joining them, there were now four of them as they took one last look back at the cavern as Mnemosyne waved them off. Her lampade guards also bid the demigods farewell before returning to their posts around the cavern's mouth, taking a half-circle formation. 

Nico had said that it was at least a couple hours before they reached the passage way that led them back up to the Door of Orpheus in Central Park. The son of Hades had taken up the lead once again, guiding his companions through the Underworld. As with last time, Nico kept his Stygian iron blade out, in case of any attacks. Percy followed behind Nico, with Luke next to him and Tayen taking up the rear, her crossbow out and readied.

Unlike last time, though, the group wasn't nearly as silent as they'd been coming. Luke, as Mnemosyne had suggested, was taking advantage of the fact he had connections to the three other demigods with him. As Percy listened to Luke talk with Nico and Tayen, he started to piece together the things that he had missed during his year away from Camp Half-Blood.

From what Percy was hearing, Luke hadn't known Nico very long, had only met the young demigod when he'd first come back to camp – he hadn't even known that Hades had demigod children when he first met Nico – but, in the time since he'd returned to camp and Percy had come back, Luke and Nico had become reasonably good friends; Nico, apparently, had been one of the first people to accept the fact that Luke was back and he was the first who treated Luke without a silent grudge, as so many campers did.

When it came to Tayen, Luke had known, rather quickly, that she wasn't just any other camper. She helped Luke more than almost anyone else, giving him potions to help him sleep when he couldn't rest, talked to him when almost no one else would, joked around with him. It was clear that she held nothing against him. Luke often noticed that the daughter of Hecate held a certain sadness around her whenever he was around and, for a while, he'd stopped bothering her until she'd sought him out again.

All of this was new to Percy. Over the last year, he hadn't really kept in touch with the people at Camp Half-Blood, mostly focused on not getting kicked out of school _again_. With both Grover and Annabeth away from camp during the year as well – Annabeth on Olympus and Grover out doing his Lord of the Wild thing – Percy really hadn't had much reason to contact camp. He hadn't been expecting Nico to stick around camp, since the son of Hades had a tendency to only check in every few weeks.

Learning all of this, Percy was wondering, once again, just how he and Luke were going to work. For all he claimed to know about Luke, there was clearly so much that he was missing. How could he truly love Luke when he just barely knew anything about the older man, outside of what he'd learned during the war and during the last few weeks?

"Percy?"

Luke's voice cut into the son of Poseidon's thoughts and Percy looked up to the older demigod. "What?" he asked, trying to act casual.

"You're doing it again." Luke caught Percy by the hand and stopped, forcing the younger man to do the same. "Thinking too hard." He pulled Percy in and pressed his lips to the son of Poseidon's forehead before looking to Nico. "Let's take a break for a few minutes."

Nico wrinkled his nose. They were about half-way to the exit to Central Park. If they stopped now, it would only take that much longer to get back to the mortal world. Not that the son of Hades had any problem with staying in the Underworld for a while longer – the Underworld was more of a home for him than the cabin he had at Camp Half-Blood, after all; he was comfortable there more than anywhere else. It was more a matter than the others didn't really belong in the Underworld – with, perhaps, the exception of Tayen, but even the daughter of Hecate was not meant to stay there for an extended period of time.

"Alright," Nico finally conceded. They had just passed Hades' palace and, therefore, were safe from most any creature that might have threatened them otherwise, so the younger demigod put his sword down for the time being, sticking the blade into the black earth beneath his feet. "Ten minutes, then we should continue on our way."

"Thanks, Nico," Luke said, pulling Percy off to the side for a moment, so that the two of them could talk in private. The moment they were out of earshot of Tayen and Nico, Luke had his hands on Percy's shoulders, blue-gold eyes focused on the younger demigod with his brow furrowed. "Perce, what's bothering you?"

Percy shook his head. "It's - "

"Don't tell me 'it's nothing'." The son of Hermes knew words as well as his father did. Strong hands squeezed at Percy's shoulders. "Perce, one minute you're saying you love me, want to help me, that you'll fight for me, with me. The next time I turn around, you're standing there with a lost look on your face, like you don't know what to do now."

"I _don't_ know what to do now!" Percy admitted, frustration coloring his voice. "Luke, I've _never_ known 'what to do now'. With Annabeth, it was always her decisions, her plans, _her_ next move."

Luke gave a laugh, despite how obviously stressed Percy was. "You mean to tell me that Annabeth wore the pants in that relationship?" he asked. He didn't even let the son of Poseidon answer before he leaned in and pressed his lips against Percy's in a small, rather tender kiss. "The great Percy Jackson, hero of Olympus, is the submissive one?"

"I never said that," Percy protested, giving a slight frown against Luke's lips. "I just said that Annabeth was the one who always decided what next."

Another laugh escaped the son of Hermes and he pulled Percy close to him. "Sounds pretty submissive to me, Perce." Luke held Percy to him for a long moment, leaning in and burying his face in the crook of the younger man's neck, taking the chance to just breathe in everything that was the son of Poseidon. He let his hand rub down Percy's back, slowly, only stopping when a soft gasp escaped Percy as his fingers just touched the small of the other demigod's back. "Perce?"

Percy gave a quiet noise, arms looping around Luke's waist. "I'm okay," he murmured. His back was tingling from the brush of Luke's fingers against his most vulnerable – and, definitely, his most sensitive – spot. He let out a shaky breath, still holding onto Luke as he closed his eyes. "Still not sure what to do now."

Luke was quiet for a moment, fingers still going over Percy's back, tracing up the younger demigod's spine, back down, almost touching that sensitive point before going up again. Each time Luke's fingers came near his Achilles' spot, Percy had to suppress a shiver of anticipation for that jolt that shot through his body. Finally, the son of Hermes let his hand flatten against Percy's back as he pulled his head up to look at the younger man.

"Now we figure out what's bothering you so we can go home," he told the son of Poseidon. A grin crossed the older demigod's lips, tugging at the scar clawed into his cheek. "Of course, once we get home, I suppose we have quite the confessions to make to a certain daughter of Athena, if she's still at camp."

Percy gave a groan and let his head drop against Luke's shoulder. "She's going to gut me like a fish," he muttered, sounding miserable. Though he'd come to terms with the fact that he was going to have to talk to Annabeth, admit to what had happened and that he was kind of, sort of, not-quite-officially an item with Luke, Percy did not look forward to confessing anything to the girl who was one of his closest friends, had briefly been his girlfriend. "I don't even know where to begin telling her what's happened."

"Well, don't look at me," Luke said, voice completely casual. " _You_ came on to _me_. Of course, it's not like there's any way to resist these looks." The older demigod preened at his own self-glorification.

"You are so full of yourself," Percy told him, giving a frown and glaring up at the other demigod, though there was no heat in his eyes.

Luke bounced his eyebrows at Percy. "Maybe I am, but I bet you'd love to be full of me, too."

"Luke!"

The older man laughed heartily then, catching Percy in his arms and pulling him in for a deep kiss. "By the gods, Percy, you are far too innocent for a teenager."

Percy wrinkled his nose up at Luke. "I'm hardly innocent," he muttered. "Not with the dreams we've been sharing for weeks." Those dreams, wild and sexual, pleasing and enlightening, had all been far from innocent dreams. With Eros orchestrating the dreams, using them to undo what his mother had done, it was an experience that Percy had been, at first, confused by, then curious, and finally, come to actually look forward to.

"You know, those don't have to be just dreams," Luke murmured.

"I know, but - "

"Guys!" Tayen called from where Luke and Percy had left her and Nico. Neither she nor the son of Hades were visible from where the other two stood. "Your ten minutes are up! Put your clothes back on and come over here!"

Percy's head fell against Luke's shoulder and the son of Poseidon gave a groan of embarrassment. "Oh, you can _so_ tell she's _your_ friend, Luke," he grumbled. "None of _my_ friends have mouths like that."

"Hurry it up, Jackson!" Nico yelled to his cousin. "You can ride Luke like a Tilt-a-Whirl later!"

"You were saying?" Luke asked, unable resist grinning at the look of shock on Percy's face.

"Where does a twelve-year-old learn to talk like _that_?" Percy gave a shake of his head as Luke led him back to the other two demigods.

"He's been hanging around Travis and Connor. What do you expect? Those two will corrupt a twelve-year-old faster than you can blink."

Percy heaved a sigh and made a note to talk to the two other sons of Hermes later about the corruption of his younger cousin.

* * * * *

The group was on the last stretch of the Underworld before they reached the exit to Central Park when trouble found them again. Journeying through the Underworld wasn't without its dangers; however, it seemed like a horrible cliché that the final leg of the journey would be the hardest. They'd already traversed the dark realm of Hades, found the Pool of Memories, reunited with Luke and were almost home free when Nico stopped them, hand raised in a silent signal, with his other hand lifting his sword for defense. 

Immediately, Luke and Percy both had their swords out as well. Tayen once again had her crossbow up and ready, one of her magic-enhanced arrows notched. All four of them moved together in a formation, backs to each other in a circle. For a long moment, there was nothing; no movement and the only sounds those of four demigod's breathing. Whatever Nico sensed, it was good at hiding in the dank darkness that surrounded them.

It wasn't until a whizzing noise sounded and Nico cried out that any of them knew their enemy had struck. The fact that the son of Hades – more than a fair fighter, despite his young age, and someone who was one of the last people that any of them thought could be hit – had collapsed almost immediately, a small, crude dart in his shoulder.

"Nico!" Percy broke formation to get to his cousin.

"Haha, got him!" a familiar voice called out. A moment later and the two lamiae from the previous day showed themselves. The one that had cheerfully proclaimed that she'd gotten Nico lowered her bamboo dart gun with a fang-filled grin.

"Great job, Evadne!" the other lamia, Stacia, said, slithering across the rocky terrain towards the fallen son of Hades.

Luke cut her off, running between her and the two sons of the Big Three. In a flurry of motion, the son of Hermes fended off her attacks, protecting his friends with ease. Just as in the mock-fight a few weeks ago, he showed that his lack of memories were no handicap to his skills with a blade; he knew how to fight, his movements sharp, studied, and deadly. "Get him out of here!" he called over his shoulder to Percy.

Tayen joined Luke in fighting the two lamiae, using her crossbow to keep Evadne from getting closer. Her arrows differed from those Percy had seen the Apollo kids and the Hunters of Artemis use in battle before; the daughter of Hecate charmed them with all sorts of spells, spells more serious than a sulfur charm or noise-making charm. Her arrows were no laughing matter. At first, Percy thought that Tayen was missing her target, her arrows striking the ground a full three feet from the lamia, but as he looked closer, he saw that the arrows sparked and created an electric current between themselves, effectively standing as a barrier to keep Evadne from getting closer.

"Percy!" the daughter of Hecate shouted, still shooting arrows to fend Evadne off. "What are you waiting for? Get Nico out! They probably poisoned him!"

That got Percy's attention back to his younger cousin. He caught Nico's uninjured arm and looped it over his own shoulders to help the son of Hades stand again. Nico was still conscious, thankfully, but judging by the way his eyes were fluttering and the way sweat beaded on his forehead, Percy doubted that the boy was going to stay conscious much longer. With Tayen and Luke keeping the two lamiae at bay, Percy hurried towards the exit of the Underworld.

"Percy, wait!"

The son of Poseidon paused and turned, just in time to catch an object that Tayen had thrown to him. The daughter of Hecate went right back to firing at Evadne. "Get up to the mortal world!" Tayen called over her shoulder. "Turn the dial three times! It'll put you in contact with Emma and Ella! Tell them to come get you!"

Percy had to trust that Tayen and Luke would catch up and that the device the girl had thrown him would do what she said it would. He needed to get Nico out of danger's way and he needed to do it quick. Holding onto his cousin and pulling the son of Hades towards the cavern that would lead them out of the Underworld, moving as quickly as he could with a half-conscious young teen leaning against him. He was reminded of the last time he and Nico had been in the Underworld together, when the son of Hades had brought him there to help him gain invincibility.

It took much longer than he would have liked, but Percy eventually got Nico through the cavern to Central Park. By the time they got outside, the younger demigod had lost consciousness completely. He was breathing, but his whole body was shivering, his skin was covered in a thin sheen of sweat and the black clothes Nico wore were soaked with his perspiration. Percy had to do something, anything, to help Nico. The problem was that Percy was no healer and he knew nothing about poisons like the one that had been clearly used on the younger demigod.

He had no choice but to use whatever Tayen had thrown him. Setting Nico down gently, he sat beside the son of Hades as he held up the device. It looked like a watch-bracelet, thin and silver, but instead of a clock-face, it held a picture of the twins from the Aura cabin, sitting together for what must have been a professional portrait. Turning the dial on the side, three times as instructed, Percy prayed this would be fast; he needed to get Nico to the camp, to one of the Apollo healers in the infirmary; they had to know what to do about the poison the lamia had used on Nico.

"Tayen, where are you?" one of the twins' voice came through the device.

"We've been worried sick about you!" the other added.

Percy had to feel a little guilty that the girls couldn't actually talk to Tayen, since the daughter of Hecate was, currently, still in the Underworld with Luke. "Hey, actually, it's Percy," the son of Poseidon told the two girls.

"Percy? What are you doing with Tayen's bracelet?"

Percy shook his head, though it was clear that neither of the girls could see through the watch to see him do so. "I'll explain later, but Tayen said to call you two," he said, the words coming out of his mouth in a rush. "Nico's been hurt, poisoned. I need you two to come to Central Park as fast as you come. We need to get him to the camp healers."

"Oh my gods." Percy still couldn't tell which of the twins was speaking, but it didn't seem to matter all that much, because it almost seemed the two of them were alternating every other sentence. "Percy, stay right where you are."

"We'll find you. Tayen charmed our bracelets in case we got lost."

"Because we sort of suck with directions."

"And always wind up calling her."

"Hey, Emma, Ella?" The son of Poseidon was getting a little impatient. "Nico? Poison? Gotta get him to the infirmary, remember?"

There was a quiet 'oh, yeah' on the other end. A loud bang sounded, like a door being slammed open and hitting the wall. "Two minutes, Percy!"

The connection between the bracelet and the ones that twins implied they had cut off then, leaving Percy with nothing to do but wait. He kept Nico close to him, wishing that he could do something for his cousin besides sit there with him. The poison in the younger demigod's body seemed to be affecting Nico's mind, as well as his body, as the son of Hades would occasionally whimper in his unconscious state and call out for his sister.

Seeing the normally calm, mostly aloof child of Hades like this wasn't easy for Percy, not when he'd come to know his younger cousin as having the strength to get through just about anything. Nico might not have the curse of invincibility, but he was strong, untouchable in his own way. After all, the younger demigod had survived on his own for over two years after his sister had died, he was the Ghost King, the one who had brought Percy to the Styx, in defiance against the Lord of the Dead himself. If that wasn't strength, Percy didn't know what to call it.

"You're going to be okay, Nico," Percy promised his cousin. He brushed Nico's bangs from his face, then looked towards the Door of Orpheus, waiting and watching for Luke and Tayen. "We're all going to be okay."

Silence answered him, Nico's soft whimpers having ceased and no one come through the cavern after them. It was too quiet for Percy's comfort and, in the silence, his ADHD-addled mind started going a mile a minute, with scenarios running through his consciousness. He was eternally grateful that a hard wind picked up a few moments later, alerting him to the Aura twins' arrival. Emma took Nico from the son of Poseidon, promising that she'd get him straight to the infirmary, while Ella took hold of Percy's arm, ready to take him back to camp.

"What about Tayen and Luke?" Percy asked. "They're still in the Underworld."

Ella certainly didn't look pleased that her girlfriend was in the Underworld, but she didn't dwell on it. In fact, she just gave the son of Poseidon a rather knowing smile. "I'm not worried. Luke will get them home."

"In the mean time," Emma called to her sister. "We need to get these two home!"

Ella gave her twin a nod, then looked to Percy. "Hold onto me," she told the older demigod. She gestured for Percy to put his arm around her waist for the best hold and, once he did, the two daughters of Aura concentrated together. Percy couldn't help but be impressed by the wind the twins brought together, creating identical whirlwinds that easily picked all four demigods up.

He wasn't even entirely sure what happened next. The winds that Emma and Ella had created moved too fast for him to see where they were going, but they twins seemed to know exactly what they were doing. It didn't take very long for the whirlwinds to take the four of them from Central Park, back to Camp Half-Blood. When they set down again, Percy found that Emma and Ella had brought them directly to the infirmary, as the younger twin had promised when she'd taken Nico. Percy thanked both of the girls for the ride and went over to Emma, giving her a hand getting Nico actually in the infirmary.

Will Solace, the head healer in the infirmary, took one look at the unconscious, feverish form of the son of Hades and immediately directed Percy and Emma to set the younger demigod on the bed. He shooed both of them out of the infirmary, telling them that the last thing he needed was a bunch of healthy demigods clogging up his infirmary while he healed Nico. Though Percy protested, wanting to make sure his cousin was going to be alright, he finally did leave...

...and found himself face-to-face with Annabeth Chase.

The daughter of Athena had her arms crossed over her chest and a scowl on her lips, her grey eyes dark as she glowered at him. "Perseus Jackson, you have _a lot_ of explaining to do."


	10. Chapter 10

As Annabeth followed him to Cabin Three so they could talk, Percy was absolutely certain that she had suddenly donned a black hood and wielded a huge axe. The campers who watched as a clearly displeased daughter of Athena walked with an obviously dejected son of Poseidon seemed to be passing a universal message of 'dead man walking' amongst themselves at the sight. Honestly, that's kind of what Percy felt it was like; he'd told Luke that the girl was going to gut him like a fish, but if the glare Annabeth had given him just minutes ago was anything to judge by, the daughter of Athena wouldn't be even that merciful.

Percy swore he could hear a funeral dirge being played. He looked around to see a daughter of Apollo playing a harmonica and threw a glare at her. She just gave him a salute and slipped the tiny instrument into her pocket before joining her siblings on their way over to the archery range.

Alima looked up from her bed in the cabin, smiling widely when she saw that Percy was back. She was about to go up to greet her half-brother and welcome him home when she caught sight of Annabeth behind him. Remembering what Percy had told her the night before he disappeared – well, she knew where he'd gone, since she talked to Travis and Connor – the younger child of Poseidon announced that she was going to go to the pegasus stables. Throwing her brother a look that conveyed a message of 'welcome back, hope you survive this', Alima dashed out the door to give Annabeth and Percy room to talk without her eavesdropping.

Standing in the middle of the cabin, Annabeth crossed her arms over her chest. Her eyes had gotten lighter, no longer the dark grey that foretold a storm brewing within the daughter of Athena, but the intensity was still there. She focused on Percy, everything about how she stood making it clear that Percy had better start talking.

So that's what Percy did. Everything came rushing out; how he'd come back to camp and tried to give Luke a second chance, how they'd started to become friends again – or for real, since Luke had only acted the part of being his friend that first summer, to betray him later. He told Annabeth about the dreams that had started off so strange, an unknown figure asking for answers. He told her how he'd finally figured out it was Luke in those dreams, as he and the son of Hermes got closer as friends. Percy wasn't quite sure how long he talked, but he covered as much as he could.

Throughout all of it, Annabeth remained quiet, her arms tightly folded across her chest. It was hard for Percy to tell what she was thinking, what feelings she might be having as he explained everything. There was a flash of emotion in the daughter of Athena's eyes when Percy finally told her where he'd run off to on the Fourth of July, just a couple of days ago.

"I saw Luke heading into the woods and I needed to talk to him, so I went after him," Percy told Annabeth, knowing she'd remember how he'd left her on the beach right before the fireworks were supposed to start. "I know I said I'd be right back and, yeah, I probably _could_ have waited until the fireworks were _over_ , but I _had_ to talk to Luke. I had to tell him something. Only he beat me to it."

Annabeth arched her brow at that and Percy half-expected her to finally speak up and ask him what-in-the-name-of-Hades he was talking about, but her lips remained firmly sealed. He knew that he had to tell her what had been said that night, what had happened then and in the days since. This was simply the hardest thing he'd ever had to say to the daughter of Athena – who, despite the initial wariness because of their godly parents' rivalry, had become one of his closest friends. Percy took a deep breath, then closed his eyes, finally just blurting it out.

"Luke told me he was in love with me."

When Percy didn't even hear Annabeth deny it, tell him he was making this up, call him a liar, he cracked one eye open to peek at his friend before opening the other eye as well. Annabeth still had her lips closed, but her arms were folded tighter over her chest and she was shaking very slightly. Percy wasn't quite sure what the look in his friend's stormy grey eyes meant – Anger? Heartbreak? Resentment? Percy knew that Annabeth had loved Luke for a long time, much longer than she'd ever loved him, so he was expecting her to be hurt by the fact that the son of Hermes had fallen in love with Percy.

And that wasn't even half of what had been going on while she'd been away.

"The thing is...I'm in love with him, too," Percy added, his voice soft. He still wasn't quite sure how he'd wound up in love with Luke, but he knew he was. Eros had said that Percy and Luke were _meant_ to be in love, that Aphrodite had been playing with him much more than he'd realized. What hurt the most about knowing that the goddess of love had been playing with him was knowing that she was playing with _Annabeth_ at the same time. It wasn't fair to the daughter of Athena, any more than it was fair to him.

Looking at Annabeth, it was hard telling just how she was taking Percy's confession; he could tell she was upset, but there was so much more to it than that. The son of Poseidon had never been terribly good at telling his friend's emotions, even when they'd hang out much more often, but he was having even more trouble differentiating Annabeth's feelings now, perhaps because he was so conflicted as well.

"I'm sorry," Percy told her. "I never wanted to string you along or anything like that. I never thought I'd fall in love with someone else, much less with Luke, when you and I were together. You're one of my best friends, Annabeth, and I don't like hurting you. I'm really sorry."

A moment of silence fell between the two of them. Percy watched Annabeth for her reaction, seeing the mix of emotion in her eyes, the way her lips were beginning to pale with how firmly she was holding them closed. Her fingers were digging into her arms as she held them crossed over her chest. The whole time, she kept quiet. It had Percy worried for her, scared that she was never going to talk to him again. Though he may not love her the way he now knew he loved Luke, Percy still loved the daughter of Athena; she would always be one of his best friends, one of the few people he wanted to keep in his life. So when she still refused to say anything, Percy became a little desperate.

"Annabeth, _please_ , say something," he pleaded quietly. "Tell me you get it, tell me you don't. Say you hate me and never want to see me again or you're happy for me, but not really. Just say _something_."

Annabeth's hand dropped from where her nails had dug into her skin, leaving crescent-shaped indents in her arm, and struck Percy's face hard. The resulting clap echoed in the far-too-quiet cabin as Percy stumbled back a step, bringing his hand up to touch his cheek. Had he not carried the curse of Achilles that made him invincible, his face would undoubtedly be swollen, possibly bruised. As it was, Percy's cheek still stung and was slightly red. Invincibility only went so far when it came to an upset girl.

"Don't," Annabeth told Percy sharply when the son of Poseidon opened his mouth to try to say something more. "Don't _even_. I don't want to hear anything more, you...you _stupid_...!"

She couldn't seemed to decide on what to call the demigod that would be enough, so she left her words at that as she pushed her way past Percy and threw the cabin door open. Before Percy could even get a chance to try to get out the door after her, Annabeth slammed the door back closed, leaving the son of Poseidon in an empty cabin, hand still pressed to his cheek and heart aching because, despite as much as he'd tried to make things easier on her, he'd still hurt his closest friend.

Alima had left to give him time and privacy to speak to Annabeth. Annabeth had just stormed out with a broken heart. Nico was in the infirmary, poisoned and delirious. Percy wasn't even sure where Luke and Tayen were. Were they still in the Underworld or had they gotten out? One of the Aura twins had said that Luke would get them home, but Percy had no idea _how_ the son of Hermes intended to do that. At any rate, Percy didn't have anyone around right now. He was alone and he _hated_ that.

With nothing really to do, he heaved a sigh and moved towards his bed, flopping down and wishing he could get away with smothering himself into his pillow.

* * * * *

When Percy finally emerged from his cabin again, an hour later, with his cheek no longer red after given some time, he headed straight for the infirmary to check on Nico. The last he knew, Will had been muttering something about diktamos and tilium, which Percy could only assume were medicines – he wasn't familiar with the various cures and herbal medicines that the children of Apollo used in their healing arts; he only knew very basic first aid and, when in doubt, nectar and ambrosia _always_ helped. Percy had no idea how his cousin was doing. 

Crossing the cabin green again, Percy was more than aware of more people watching him now than when he'd led Annabeth to Cabin Three. Clearly, there had been witnesses when Annabeth had stormed back out and those witnesses had, no doubt, started whispering rumors. Something would have to be done about that. Any time rumors started around Camp Half-Blood, those rumors tended to spread like wildfire in a thirsty wood and, given even half an inch, they'd become monsters not unlike those in the camp's forest. For now, though, Percy couldn't be bothered.

Right now, he had to get to Nico and check on the son of Hades. Nico had done a lot for him by helping him go after Luke. Actually, Percy realized, Nico had done a lot for him in the last couple of years; it was Nico who helped him in the Labyrinth most of all, Nico who'd given him the invincibility he'd needed to survive the battle in Manhattan last year, Nico who'd helped turn the tide of that battle by bringing some sense to Hades and, just a couple of days ago, had told Percy where Luke had gone. Nico had done the most for him these last few days and Percy felt he had to do something in return, by sticking to the younger demigod's side until he was better.

Ignoring the looks being thrown his way, Percy hurried over to the infirmary, knocking once before opening the door. He didn't wait for any of the healers to give him the okay or not, he just walked in and crossed to the back, where he could see Nico laying on a bed. Already at his side were Travis and Connor. Percy had to arch his brow, seeing the two sons of Hermes there; he vaguely recalled the two of them hanging out with Nico before, during the first part of the summer. He spent so much time with Luke that he hadn't really paid a whole lot of attention to his other friends, to be honest, but now that he really thought about it, part of him had realized that Travis and Connor had become friends with Nico.

"Hey guys," the son of Poseidon spoke up, keeping his voice soft. It was a rule, posted on a carved board that hung from the rafters: quiet in the infirmary. Percy grabbed a chair and brought it over to the other side of the bed Nico was resting on. "How's he doing?"

Connor looked up from where he'd been playing his DS. "Will said he'll live," he told Percy, relief in his voice. He gestured to a bandage just under Nico's elbow. "He couldn't draw out the poison, but he gave Nico an anti-venom."

"He said he had no idea when the fever would break, though," Travis added. He had his own DS out and was playing what sounded like a Pokémon game. He had a third DS sitting in his lap, black with a skeleton sticker on the top cover. Percy could only assume that it belonged to Nico. "We're supposed to give Nico some kind of tea whenever he wakes up."

"That tilium stuff," Connor muttered, dividing his attention between his game and the conversation. He looked up at Percy again, giving the son of Poseidon a small smile. "He'll be fine. He's not getting out of trading me his Glaceon that easily."

Percy couldn't help giving his own small smile. "I'm surprised you're not stealing it," he said, pointing to the black DS on Travis' lap. "Couldn't one of you just play his game to trade?"

"We could, but you know Nico," Travis pointed out. "He'd probably send us straight to his dad if we pulled a stunt like that on him."

"Damned to eternity over a Pokémon." Connor wrinkled his nose and stuck his tongue out. "I know we tend to cheat, lie and steal to get what we want, but eternal damnation in the Fields of Punishment over a bunch of pixels? Thanks, but no thanks." He set his game down and crossed his arms over his chest as he leaned back in his chair. "So, what's up, Seapup? We heard Luke didn't come back with you."

Percy heaved a sigh and slumped in the chair he'd brought over. "We had to split up," he explained. "When the lamiae got Nico, Luke and Tayen told me to get him out, so I did. I haven't heard from either of them, but - " he sat upright again and gave a shrug, " - you know. It's Luke and Tayen. They'll be fine. Luke will get them home."

"Duh." This was from both of the Stolls. Connor continued to speak while Travis played his game. "It's Luke," he told Percy. "Admittedly, he's the best of us. No matter what he did on the other side of the war or how much he used to hate being our dad's son, he was _always_ the best of Hermes' kids. I mean, _come on_ , he stole Zeus' master bolt! That takes some serious skill!"

"And major balls," the older Stoll brother interjected.

Connor gave a nod of agreement. "Even if it almost brought war, you have to admit, that was pretty damn awesome." He grinned at Percy. "We know Luke's going to pull some awesome Hermes kid stunt and get home. So relax, would you?"

"Hey, I'm perfectly relaxed," Percy pointed out. "I know Luke's going to come home. The only thing I'm worried about right now is my cousin being poisoned, feverish and unconscious."

"And Annabeth being pissed off," Travis added for the son of Poseidon.

"And Luke not being home yet," Connor put in.

"And how you're going to explain to us that you may or may not be being ridden like a seahorse by our brother."

Percy choked and gaped at Travis and Connor, who had said that last addendum together, voices in perfect unison. The two tricksters wore identical looks of amusement, their blue eyes twinkling with a knowing light.

"Don't even try to deny there's something between you and Luke," Travis told the son of Poseidon. His grin widened. "You can't lie to us, Percy. We're the children of the _Lord_ of Liars. We know every tell that will give you away." He held up one hand and started counting off a few examples. "Avoid making eye contact, touching your face, your expressions are forced. Things like that."

"Also, there's the fact that you just flat-out _suck_ at lying," Connor pointed out, giving a shrug. "At any rate, no, you can't deny that you and Luke are doing the horizontal tango or will be eventually."

Percy crossed his arms over his chest and frowned at the two sons of Hermes. "Luke was right," he told them. "You guys _have_ been corrupting Nico."

"Hey, the kid's actually pretty fun to hang out with," Travis said. "Even if he's only thirteen."

Percy wrinkled his nose. He'd thought Nico was twelve. Looking down at the son of Hades, Percy realized that he didn't even know when Nico's birthday was. Despite being the closest cousin he had, he didn't know a whole lot about the younger demigod. That needed to be changed, sometime. Just as Percy would have to learn more about Luke while he got closer to the son of Hermes as their relationship evolved, so would Percy have to learn more about Nico if he was going to be friends with his younger cousin.

"So?"

"So what?" Percy asked, when Travis prompted him.

"Are you or are you not being banged by Luke?" the older Stoll brother queried, determined to get an answer out of the son of Poseidon.

"I don't see how it's any of your business," Percy pointed out. "Just because he's your brother doesn't mean I have to tell you whether I'm sleeping with him or not. For the record, there's still that rule. We're not allowed to be _alone_ in a cabin."

"Cabin, true," Connor mused, lifting one hand to stroke his chin. He looked extremely thoughtful for a moment. "But, you know, nothing's really stopping you from doing it in the storage sheds, the stables, the armory – though that one's a little tricky."

"I don't even want to know," Percy muttered.

"Neither do I." This came from Nico. The son of Hades' voice was soft, hoarse, but it was clear that he was awake and had been for a while. The younger demigod shifted under the blankets, straightening from the ball he'd been curled up in. He cracked one eye open to look at his cousin and friends. "I'm trying to sleep here."

"No, you're not," Connor told the younger demigod, point blank. As goofy as most people took the Stoll brothers, and their other siblings, to be, when given something serious to do, they were serious about it. "You're sitting up, you're drinking the nasty tilium tea Will told us to give you - "

" - and then you're giving me your Glaceon for my Mismagius," Travis added.

Nico muttered something under his breath, but he pulled himself up into a sitting position. He looked up at Percy with tired eyes, blinking a couple of times, not seeming to comprehend what was going on. The son of Hades brought his hand up to run over his face and brush back his unruly black bangs. "How long have I been out?" he asked.

"A couple of hours, at least," Percy replied. It had taken a long time to get Nico to the exit of the Underworld after the son of Hades had passed out. What should have taken ten minutes at most had taken almost twice that with Percy half-dragging, half-carrying the younger demigod out. It had only been a few minutes after getting out that Emma and Ella had arrived to take them back to camp. "You've still got a fever, apparently."

"My head feels like a herd of centaurs stomped through," Nico grumbled. He dropped his head into his hands with a small groan. It was a long moment before he looked up again, this time because Connor was handing him a mug of tea. "Did Luke and Tayen get out of the Underworld?"

"I don't know yet." Percy _still_ wasn't pleased about it. Where were they? Why was it taking so long to get back? Had Hades discovered them and sent the Erinyes after Luke and Tayen? "I haven't heard from either of them. I did talk to Annabeth, though."

"And how'd she take the news?"

Percy gestured to his cheek. "She hit me," he said. "I think if I wasn't invincible, I'd have a broken jaw."

"Athena's girls _do_ know how to hit." Once again, the voice that spoke up wasn't anyone who'd been in the conversation previously. Standing in the door of the infirmary was Luke, one arm around Tayen's waist while her arm was over his shoulder. The son of Hermes guided the daughter of Hecate into the infirmary as Tayen hopped on one foot.

"Luke!" Percy stood, but kept himself from running over to the older demigod. "What happened?"

"One of the lamiae tackled Tayen and broke her ankle," Luke explained, helping Tayen get over to one of the empty cots.

"I broke her nose in retaliation," the daughter of Hecate grinned, unable to help herself, despite the pain she was in because of her ankle. "Then I turned her to monster dust with a broken arrow."

"Let me get Will," Luke told her. "You keep that ankle elevated."

"Yes, _Mom_."

"What else happened?" Percy asked, joining Luke as the son of Hermes moved to back of the infirmary, where Will was undoubtedly doing an inventory check – the eldest child of Apollo, since becoming the head of the infirmary, had become incredibly anal about his inventory. "How did you guys get back here?"

Luke looked to Percy with a raised brow, as if the son of Poseidon should know exactly how they'd gotten back. "I teleported us from Central Park," he replied. "We had to get out of the Underworld first, since the fight with those lamiae attracted a lot of attention. It wasn't easy, with Tayen's ankle, but we managed. Once we got up to the surface, it was easy to teleport back."

Percy, for a moment, was confused. Luke could teleport? He remembered the day that Luke had first left Camp Half-Blood, when he'd sliced at the air with Backbiter and created a portal to escape. At the time, Percy had thought it might be some additional power granted to the son of Hermes by Kronos, but now that he thought more about it, it was more likely to be a power inherited from the god of travelers; it actually made more sense than being a power from Kronos. That in mind, Percy realized that, of course, Luke would probably use it. It was the only way Luke could have beaten them to Central Park so quickly, considering it was over a hundred miles between Camp Half-Blood and Central Park. He, Nico and Tayen had taken pegasi there and it had still taken them a couple hours.

Luke caught Will's attention and had the son of Apollo going over to check on Tayen's ankle, then he turned to Percy and snagged the younger demigod close. "So, I assume you told Annabeth about us and that's why she hit you?"

Percy gave a nod in response. "Yeah," he murmured. He still felt awful about it. Annabeth was one of his oldest and closest friends. He knew how much she loved him. Honestly, he couldn't even begin to imagine how she must feel right now, after he'd told her about the relationship budding between him and Luke. She still only knew the bare minimum; he didn't dare tell her about the other dreams that he'd been having, the dreams that had clued him into his feelings in the first place. "She wasn't really happy."

"Obviously," Luke said. "She hit you. And Annabeth hits hard. Believe me."

Percy arched a brow at the older demigod. "She hit you?"

"Right after I came back to camp," Luke nodded. "I'm not entirely sure what I did to deserve it, but she must have had a reason. She doesn't hit people she cares about unless they've done something to hurt her or worry her. I guess my disappearance must have really gotten to her."

"Disappearance. Right." Percy still had a hard time remembering the cover story for what had happened to Luke. It didn't feel right to him, continuing to lie to Luke about what had really happened. Tayen had said that knowing would only cause the son of Hermes more pain. Nico had told Luke that there would be memories that the older demigod would not like. Even then, to just keep everything that defined who Luke was hidden away from the son of Hermes just...it wasn't something Percy was sure he could do.

"Hey."

Percy looked up at Luke in time for the older demigod to give him a quick peck on the lips. Considering they still stood in the infirmary, he was a little surprised that Luke would be so forward, but then, it never struck him that Luke would be the type to really hide. Still, there were so many campers who would not be pleased at all that there was something going on between Luke and Percy, especially when so many of them had made it clear how much they supported Percy and Annabeth as a couple just last summer.

"Stop that," Luke told the younger demigod, a serious tone in his voice, but an amused light in his eyes. "You keep scrunching that nose up like that and I won't be able to stop myself from ravishing you, right here in this infirmary."

"There are rules against that, bro!" Travis called from his place at Nico's bedside. He'd given the son of Hades the DS and the two of them looked like they were busy trading Pokémon, but the younger son of Hermes had still heard his older brother. "Remember? Unwritten Hermes cabin rule number two!"

Luke gave a snort and rolled his eyes, before leaning in and whispering to Percy, "'Thou shalt not get it on in the infirmary.'" He grinned at Percy and bounced his eyebrows suggestively, laughing when the son of Poseidon gaped at him.

"I can't believe you guys have that rule," Percy muttered. He didn't remember any rule like that from the time he spent in the Hermes cabin. It had been a pretty short stay, admittedly, but he remembered Luke saying there were no real rules in Cabin Eleven.

"Yeah, you wouldn't have heard it," Luke explained, slipping his arm around Percy's shoulders casually. "The unwritten rules are for Hermes kids only. If you'd been claimed by my dad, you would have been given the unwritten rules. Not that there are a lot of them. But that one's Adam's fault. He was the cabin leader before I was. He and one of Athena's daughters did it and we've been banned from doing it since."

Percy was still pretty sure he didn't really want to know. As wonderful as the dreams he and Luke had been sharing were, there was no way he was ready for that stage of the relationship. Were they even official yet? There were only five people in camp who knew about them at this point; Nico, Tayen, Travis, Connor and Annabeth. Percy's half-sister only knew that he was in love with someone who wasn't Annabeth, though he could bet that Alima had a guess who at this point, as well. It wasn't like Percy was trying to hide it that much, either. There was so much further he felt they had to go before he and Luke reached the point in their still new relationship.

He was about to bring this up when Luke gave his shoulder a hearty clap.

"Well, anyways, it's time I got cleaned up and headed for the arena," he announced, breaking away from Percy. "I've got a training block to teach and children of Hebe to wipe the floor with. Tayen, keep off the ankle. Travis, Connor, remember that Nico's still a kid, no funny business."

"Spoilsport!" Travis and Connor called in unison.

Luke just grinned at his brothers before looking back at Percy. "See you later, Perce," he promised, winking at the son of Poseidon.

Percy couldn't help a small smile at how at-ease Luke seemed to be, now that he'd returned from the Underworld. At the same time, it seemed a bit strange that Luke was so upbeat when, just a few hours ago, things hadn't been quite so bright. He supposed it was just in the nature of a child of Hermes to thrive on jokes and laughter, Hermes being a trickster god in his own right. Travis and Connor certainly seemed that way; it only made sense that Luke would be the same.

Despite the fact that things were beginning to settle and lighten up, Percy couldn't shake the feeling that something still wasn't right. He had no idea what might be giving him that feeling of apprehension, but, if previous experiences were anything to judge by, he was sure that something would happen, something to throw things into tumult all over again.

After all, the summer wasn't over yet.


	11. Chapter 11

**Chapter Eleven**

July continued as normal after everyone had returned from the Underworld; as normal as it got in a camp full of the children of the Greek gods. Chiron had convinced Mr. D not to turn the group that had left the camp into strawberry plants or dolphins and, instead, they'd all been given kitchen duty for the remainder of the month. Nico was the only one who got out of being punished because Dionysus had deemed the lamia poison punishment enough. The son of Hades stayed in the infirmary for two more days while he recovered from the poison, with Will supervising his treatment.

Predictably, the rumors that had started spreading from the moment Annabeth had stormed out of the Poseidon cabin the day Percy and the others returned to camp had escalated. There were rumors that the son of Poseidon had hooked up with Rachel – impossible, considering she was on a family vacation to Italy until the fifteenth and was, of course, the Oracle and, therefore, off-limits. Further rumors insisted that Percy had cheated on the daughter of Athena with one of the pretty naiads in the lake on the Fourth of July – another ridiculous rumor, of course.

Percy tried to put an end to the rumors, denying all of them, while Luke just laughed them off. The son of Hermes actually fueled a couple of them on, much to the chagrin of his younger boyfriend. Being the re-initiated head of the Hermes cabin, Luke was officially the ringleader of the biggest group of gossips in camp – followed shortly by the Aphrodite cabin – and, boy, did Luke know how to come up with whopping rumors. It was not helping matters at all for Percy, though Luke seemed to be having the time of his life.

It was a week before the rumors were finally dispelled, brought to a rather startling halt when word got out about what was _really_ going on. Though Percy and Luke were trying to keep their relationship quiet and out of the spotlight, the facts were that the son of Poseidon was the camp's biggest celebrity and the son of Hermes the most infamous camper; secrecy was a privilege that neither of them were really allowed.

They'd hidden in the armory shed after a sword lesson, both of them worked up after the match they'd had to show the group of Aphrodite kids a new technique. Luke had pushed Percy up against the wall, the younger demigod's body caught by his, mouth claiming the son of Poseidon's when the door opened and Lacey, the youngest daughter of Aphrodite, had announced her presence with a shout of 'oh my gods, I _knew_ it!' before running off to spread the news.

And, of course, when real news like this got out, it spread faster than any rumor ever could. Before either of them could stop it, the fact that Percy and Luke were an item had gotten through the camp and _everyone_ knew. There was simply no stopping it; the Aphrodite children rivaled the Hermes cabin when it came to juicy gossip and a love affair between Percy and Luke was the juiciest to come to their attention in a long time.

"This was not how it was supposed to go," Percy complained, flopping backwards onto his bed. He and Luke had promptly abandoned their hideout in the armory shed and taken shelter in the Poseidon cabin instead.

"Oh, so you had a plan?" Luke teased, lounging on the bed next to his boyfriend. He seemed much more relaxed about being caught that Percy was. His hand rested on the younger demigod's stomach, fingers just teasing at the bare skin revealed from where the son of Poseidon's shirt had ridden up. "Perce, we both knew we'd be found out sooner or later."

"I'd prefer later." Percy had hoped that they'd have a chance to sort everything out before making their relationship public. Most of the camp had still been convinced that he and Annabeth were still a couple. Of course, it was now clear that they _weren't_.

"You can't be ashamed of me now, Percy." Luke's words had Percy looking up at the older demigod, pushing himself up onto his elbows. There was an all too familiar glint in Luke's gold-tainted eyes, a flash of pain mixed with anger, the same that Percy had always seen in the older demigod's eyes when they met in battle. "We've gone through too much for you to change your mind now."

"I'm _not_ changing my mind," Percy protested. He couldn't change his mind about his feelings for Luke; not after he'd finally realized them, acknowledged them and had them reciprocated. In just the week and a half since that confession and kiss at the stream, Percy had comes to terms with himself and his feelings for the older demigod. "Luke, there's a lot of people who aren't going to be happy about this."

Luke pulled his hand away from Percy's stomach and flopped back against the mattress, tucking his arms behind his head as he stared up at the ceiling. "I stopped caring what the rest of camp thinks of me a long time ago, Percy. They can take their opinions to Tartarus, as far as I'm concerned."

Percy heaved a sigh. He knew that Luke was still angry about being lied to; from the beginning of summer, perhaps even before then, the son of Hermes had been looking for answers. Luke had told Percy that they were on the fringe of a tapestry of lies and that he'd intended to unravel the truth. Colorful imagery aside, wasn't that the reason the older demigod had gone into the Underworld in the first place? To get answers? After talking to Mnemosyne, it seemed as though Luke had given up that path, but Percy knew that Luke didn't just quit something he'd set his mind to.

Silence settled between the two of them for a few minutes, neither of them taking the conversation any further. Any further and Percy was sure it would just escalate into the same argument they'd had the first time Luke brought up how the rest of the camp treated him. That was the last thing he wanted. He'd already irreparably hurt his relationship with Annabeth, doubted that the daughter of Athena would even want to be friends anymore, and he didn't want to do the same thing with Luke.

Finally, Percy moved and sprawled over Luke, leaning in and kissing the older demigod. Luke jumped slightly beneath the son of Poseidon, pulled out of his own reverie by the kiss, before bringing his arms to wrap around Percy's slim waist. The kiss was apology enough for both of them; for Percy's hesitation and Luke's frustration. The silence was much better when it was because their lips were occupied, even more so when Luke's hand started running up and down Percy's spine.

"Mm, Luke," Percy broke the kiss to murmur against the other demigod's lips. "We should..." Whatever he was about to say was completely forgotten when Luke's hand purposefully came to brush over that spot on the small of Percy's back. The same jolt as before struck with a vengeance and the son of Poseidon's body moved on it's own, hips rocking into Luke's in response to that touch. "Luke!"

Luke gave a rather wicked grin and his fingers teased that spot again, brushing and pressing, fingernails grazing against the hypersensitive point on the younger demigod's body. Percy was completely at his mercy, breath caught and eyes rolling back in his head at the ecstasy coursing through his body, the curse of Achilles enhancing the pleasure that was already overwhelming him. There was really no way for Percy to describe how it felt. All he knew was that it was exhilarating, intense, and _dangerous_ ; this was his link to what made him mortal.

But the way Luke was manipulating that small point on Percy's back was the most mind-blowing sensation the son of Poseidon had felt in his life. Just the way those fingers moved against his Achilles spot had the younger demigod hard and in need of release, pre-cum already dampening the boxer-briefs Percy wore beneath his cargo shorts.

Luke finally relented by the time Percy was little more than a gasping, shaking mess of a demigod. The son of Hermes lips were curled in a smug smirk, quite proud of himself for finding this hypersensitive point on his boyfriend's body. Whether he realized what it truly was or not, it was very clear that he liked this find. His blue eyes were dark with want as his fingers moved from the small of Percy's back to the fastening of the younger demigod's shorts, long fingers pausing at the catch there as he looked up to Percy for permission.

"I won't do anything you're not ready for yet," he told Percy, voice an octave lower than usual.

Percy gave a nod. As many dreams as they'd shared, as intimate as those dreams had gotten, they'd been dreams; this was real, completely different, and Percy was not ready to go all the way. He may love Luke, but they hadn't been together that long and there was still so much to work through. Still, they had to do _something,_ with Percy so worked up and Luke no doubt the same. He was no stranger to the needs of his body, having to find release on his own after some of the more intense dreams he'd been having since the beginning of summer.

"We'll start with this, then," Luke mused, giving Percy a rather seductive smile as he made quick work of unfastening the younger demigod's shorts and tugging them down. He left the boxer-briefs alone for the moment, taking the chance to switch their positions, pinning the son of Poseidon against the wrinkled sheets covering the mattress of the bed.

As Luke moved and brought his lips against the head of the younger demigod's hardening length, mouthing at the son of Poseidon through the thin fabric of his boxer-briefs, Percy had to slap a hand over his mouth to keep his moans from becoming too loud. Sensitized from Luke's treatment earlier with his Achilles' spot, Percy was sure that he wasn't going to last long. Luke's mouth kept working him through the cloth covering him and Percy looked down, just in time to see the older demigod's hand slip down to work himself as well. Just the sight of that had a wanton moan escaping the son of Poseidon.

"Luke...!"

That moan seemed to only encourage the son of Hermes and he doubled his efforts to bring his younger lover to the edge, finally tugging those boxer-briefs down and wrapping his lips around Percy's length. Percy jerked beneath the older demigod, pleasure shooting through his body as Luke's tongue swirled over him. It didn't take much more to bring him crashing into ecstasy, crying out his lover's name as he came. Caught in the rush of his climax, Percy's vision going white, the son of Poseidon nearly missed it when Luke came a few moments after him, soft groans slipping from the older demigod's lips.

When Percy's senses came back, Luke was above him again, eyes once again holding that rather smug light of a Hermes kid that had stolen something they'd had their eyes on for a long time. The older demigod barely gave Percy the chance to fully catch his breath before pulling him up for a deep kiss, one that Percy could taste himself on. It lasted just long enough for Luke to take Percy's breath away again before he pulled back, lips quirked into the slightest of grins.

"Feeling better?"

"Y-yeah." Percy gave a nod and slipped his arms around Luke, pulling the son of Hermes in for another kiss, this one just a soft brush of Percy's lips against Luke's, thanking the older demigod. He gave a slight smile of his own. "So, ready to face the camp?"

Luke looked rather thoughtful, considering his options for a moment before he caught Percy close suddenly and made the younger demigod lay down again. "Nope," he told his boyfriend, a light, playful tone in his voice. He flopped himself down on the mattress next to Percy and let his head rest on the teen's chest. "Now, it's nap time."

* * * * *

Percy had thought that the dreams would stop, now that he and Luke were together. For the last week, he'd been free of strange dreams of an empty camp, free of interfering gods and soft, whispered questions. The only dreams he'd had were the usual, nonsensical dreams of the average teenager - of winning the Olympic gold medal in Mario Kart after surfing across the Hudson using Captain America's shield; nonsense like that. None of this mystery and confusion stuff, where he had no idea what was going on.

And then this dream had begun.

He was in a room built of pale marble, a temple, perhaps. Old Ionic columns held the ceiling up and were decorated with gold cloth, wrapped around and hanging between columns. Against the wall, a display held gifts and offerings. Incense burned from somewhere, a sweet scent wafting through the air as murmured voices echoed from the halls.

_An oath to keep..._

Percy whirled around, the words sounding from behind him. Never knowing what to expect from a dream like this, it was his first instinct to go for his sword, hand slipping into the pocket of his jeans. He stopped himself a moment later, the sight now before him more than a little shocking.

Sitting on high tripod chairs in a half-circle were five females, all of different ages. Each of them held a branch of laurel, sacred to Apollo, in one hand and a small clay bowl of water in the other. Percy was reminded of the painting Rachel had shown him in the museum once, done by a man whose name brought to mind images of Lassie running to rescue Timmy from the well. It was rather eerie, truth be told, and if Percy's gut feeling was right, truth was all that could be uttered here, in the temple of Apollo.

Two of the five sitting in front of Percy were complete strangers, but the other three were all familiar to him. On the right sat none other than his friend, Rachel Elizabeth Dare, her face smudged with charcoal and her bright red curls pulled back with a pale yellow head scarf. Next to her, sat May Castellan. The mortal woman, mother of Luke Castellan, sat straight and proper. She looked healthier and stronger than when Percy had met her at her home in Connecticut last year. Her white hair had grown and now curled around her face in a short bob and her eyes, so crazed the last time Percy had seen them, were clear and the same, soft shade of blue as Luke's.

Beside May was the Oracle host that had been cursed by Hades upon the death of Maria di Angelo. She looked the same as she had when she'd been cursed, twelve years old and nothing like the mummy that had finally crumbled to dust at Rachel's feet when she'd finally been set free. Her eyes were no longer sad, but they held a serious gaze on Percy as he stood before the group. The other two, Percy could only assume, were the Oracle hosts before her; a brunette girl about twelve in a dress that looked straight out of the Titanic movie he'd watched with his mother and a girl a little older than him, wearing a frilly dress with a bustle at the back, white gloves on her hands and a wide-brimmed hat over her tight, blonde curls.

Five hosts of the Oracle of Delphi – four, really, and one partial host. Percy knew this dream couldn't be anything good. All five Oracles looked to the son of Poseidon, silent, as if waiting for him to ask. What he was supposed to ask, though, Percy wasn't sure. Whatever was going on, there was one thing he knew for certain; he wasn't going to like this. None of his prior experiences with the spirit of the Oracle of Delphi, no matter who was host, had been particularly pleasant. Percy took a deep breath and exhaled a moment later, focusing on the Oracles.

"What do I need to know?"

The first Oracle, the blonde in the frilly dress, spoke first. Under the hat she wore, her eyes glowed with the familiar green light of the Spirit of Delphi as she looked to Percy. " _An oath to keep in rising vain..."_

" _The truth you hide for a hopeful gain_ ," the little Titanic girl continued.

 _"The brazen betrays,"_ the next Oracle added as the glow of the Spirit of Delphi passed to her, _"and from memory shall rise..."_

May's eyes glowed now, but where she'd been manic in her prophetic fits before, the mortal woman was calm. " _The gold of time, from death defies..."_

Percy turned to Rachel now. There was a certain sense of urgency filling him and he knew that this line was the last, the most important line. Rachel sat on her tripod, hands folded neatly in her lap with her laurel branch clasped between her fingers, eyes closed for a long moment. When she opened her eyes, the glow had passed to her and Rachel's mouth opened to deliver the last line of the prophecy.

_"And claims in requital - "_

* * * * *

"Percy! It is our turn to swim with the nai – oh."

Percy's eyes shot open as his sister's voice cut through his dream and woke him from the sleep that had overtaken him. Alima stood in the doorway of the cabin, eyes covered by her hands, even though she had her head turned away. Only after Percy realized his position with Luke did the son of Poseidon understand. Considering their activities before settling in for a nap, it wasn't the best situation for his twelve-year-old half-sister to catch him in. It was no wonder, he decided as he quickly threw a sheet over Luke and himself, that Alima had covered her eyes.

"Alima, I - "

"Are you covered, brother?"

"Y-yeah."

Alima's hands dropped and she looked to Percy, face still bright red. The younger child of Poseidon gave a cough, clearing her throat before she addressed her brother again. "So what Lacey said was true?" she asked, her voice soft now. She could see that Luke was still asleep.

Percy gave a nod and looked down to his boyfriend as Luke continued to nap for the time being. In sleep, Luke looked rather peaceful, something that Percy wasn't sure he'd actually seen before in the older demigod. There was always something that seemed tense about the son of Hermes, especially since he'd started trying to figure out what the rest of the camp was hiding from him. Seeing the way Luke's face was so completely relaxed, all the anger that was usually there if Percy was looking hard enough gone, it was as if the whole trouble with Kronos had never happened.

"Is that why Annabeth left?" Alima pressed for answers.

"You're not bothered by this?" Percy arched a brow at his sister.

"Aside from the lack of trousers, no," the younger half-blood replied. "I read the myths in our camp course. Why should I be bothered by my brother being with another man when even our father had Pelops?"

Percy blinked in surprise. Their father had had a male lover? Had he really not being paying that much attention to the camp's mythology course that he hadn't known about Pelops? Giving a shake of his head – really rather not wanting to think of his father with a male lover – the son of Poseidon looked to his sister again. "Annabeth loved both of us," he told the girl. "She loved Luke first, then me. Losing both of us, even to each other, hurt her. I don't think she'll ever forgive me."

"Do you really think that?" Alima came over to sit on the edge of her own bed, facing Percy. "You said she loves you both. She is hurt, but if she loves you, I think she will forgive you, in time. I do not claim to know her mind, but you and Annabeth were friends for a long time, yes?"

"Since my first summer here."

"Then I think you will be alright," Alima smiled. For a twelve-year-old, she seemed to be rather mature for her age. "Friendships like yours and Annabeth's do not break so easily."

Percy thought on that. He and Annabeth had gone through a lot in the last five years. Between all the quests, the life-threatening situations, the life-changing decisions, the friendship they'd built between them had grown incredibly strong. While he had realized that he didn't love the daughter of Athena as she'd wanted to be loved, he did still love her. She was one of his closest friends and he was one of hers. They'd have to work things out eventually, but there was no doubt that it would take time before Annabeth was ready to trust him again.

She'd given Luke chance after chance after his original betrayal, because she'd loved him. Percy could only hope that she'd give him another chance, too. He still wanted to be her friend, after all. Just because they weren't a couple anymore, it didn't mean they couldn't still be friends.

Right?

"In any case," Percy spoke up, "Annabeth knows the truth. The rest of camp doesn't yet. Luke and I are going to have to face them." There was going to be a lot of disappointment to face, he was sure. Most of the campers knew about Luke's past, about the war they'd fought against the son of Hermes. Hero of the Great Prophecy or not, Luke had been their enemy and Percy had been their leader. No doubt, there was going to be some contempt. "It's not going to be easy."

"Since when is anything in our lives easy?" Luke asked, startling Percy a bit. The son of Hermes grinned up at Percy from where he was still laying on the bed, half-covered by the sheet the younger demigod had thrown over them when Alima had come in. "We're demigods, Perce. We're not supposed to have it easy."

Luke pushed himself up and sat straight before reaching for Percy. He pulled the son of Poseidon in and pressed a kiss to the younger demigod's lips. Alima politely looked away so she wasn't intruding on the moment. It wasn't a long kiss, just a brief, reassuring kiss. When Luke pulled away, Percy could see the smile on the older man's lips. "What say you we get our clothes on properly again and get this over with?"

"Sounds good to me," Percy replied.

* * * * *

Percy had been right in thinking that there were plenty of campers that were not at all pleased that he and Luke were together. The same campers that had thrown him and Annabeth in the lake last summer were not about to repeat their stunt with Percy and Luke. Connor and Travis were alright with it, since they knew already, but Clarisse, who'd been the leader of the eavesdropping demigods last time, was the least likely to give any sort of congratulatory cheer for Luke as she had with Annabeth.

No, the daughter of Ares was as far from pleased as it got. Percy knew she held a grudge against Luke for Silena's death and for what had happened to her own boyfriend in the Labyrinth a couple of years ago. The oath they'd all taken when the gods decreed Luke would be given a second chance kept her – and the rest of those who were upset about the son of Hermes – from doing anything to Luke. Most of the others simply accepted the fact that it wasn't up to them to decide who Percy dated; they held no sway over the son of Poseidon's heart, after all. Clarisse, though, made it clear with the death-glares she shot towards Luke that she did not approve.

Not that it meant much to Percy. He did consider her a friend, but that didn't mean Clarisse had any say in who he dated. He and Luke had been through their first major trials and, gods willing, they'd get through any other trial that was thrown their way.

Percy knew there would be other trials. That same feeling of apprehension he'd had in the infirmary several days ago was back, stronger than before. Perhaps it was the dream that he'd had earlier, with the Oracle hosts and the unfinished prophecy. He had no idea what to make of what the dream had meant, why he had been given yet another prophecy. The fact that the dream had been interrupted at what he'd felt was the most crucial line in the riddle had Percy incredibly tense.

What had Rachel been about to say? _"And claims in requital..."_

Claim _what_? What was the spirit of the Oracle trying to warn him about? Percy was sure that the prophecy was a warning. Something big was definitely coming, but he had no idea what or when. That was the problem with prophecies; they were usually vague, shrouded in mystery. Percy had no way to tell what it had meant or when it would come to pass _and_ he hadn't heard the complete last line.

Taking the chance to return to his cabin after dinner, Percy dug a drachma from his pocket and went over to the fountain that sat in the corner of the cabin. He couldn't wait for Rachel to get to camp to talk to her – why had her father decided to take her all the way to _Italy_ this summer, anyways? Throwing the drachma into the mist created by the fountain, Percy called upon Iris to connect him to the mortal girl.

The only problem was that Percy had forgotten a little thing called 'time zones' when he asked to be connected. What he got connected to was a pair of very sleepy and grumpy green eyes peeking out from kinky red bangs.

"Perseus freakin' Jackson, it's one in the _morning_ ," Rachel hissed at the son of Poseidon through the mist. "You're lucky my parents got me my own hotel room. How do you think they'd react if they saw a magical floating screen of mist over their daughter's bed?"

"Rachel, your parents can't see through the Mist," Percy pointed out. He at least had the sense to look guilty for waking his friend. "I just need to ask you a question about a prophecy."

"Percy, you know I can't just turn it on and off."

Percy shook his head. "I know. I don't need you to deliver a prophecy. Just repeat one. You can do that, right?"

Rachel gave a wrinkle of her nose and pushed her hair out of her face with a slight yawn. "If I delivered it, yeah. If it was something she said before I became her host, not so much. Not at will, anyways." The mortal girl gave a stretch and Percy could hear her back pop through the screen of mist. "Though I don't know why you'd want me to repeat a prophecy. I've only delivered three since becoming the host."

"Was one of those this afternoon?"

Rachel paused and looked at Percy. "What are you talking about?"

Percy explained his earlier dream to Rachel, telling her about the temple of Apollo, the five Oracle hosts and the prophecy that had been interrupted. As he spoke to her, the red-head gave a frown that increased with every line of the prophecy Percy had received in his dream. She didn't even have to say anything for the son of Poseidon to know that she had no idea what he was talking about; she hadn't been the one to deliver it.

"I wish I could help you, Percy," Rachel told him. "I can't finish a prophecy I never gave."

Percy gave a frown of his own. If Rachel hadn't given the prophecy and couldn't finish it, what could he do about it? "Well, thanks anyways. Sorry I woke you up."

"You'd better be. I was dreaming of that cute guy from Mr. Kellan's class."

Percy gave a grin. "I thought you were pledged to Apollo and sworn to be untouched by man?"

Rachel stuck her tongue out at him. "A girl can dream."

Percy laughed with Rachel before Iris' voice came through the mist, telling him he needed to offer another drachma if he wanted to continue chatting. "I'd better let you go. I'll see you when you get to camp."

"Yep. Good night, Percy. And good luck with Luke." Rachel gave him a wink right before she waved her hand through the mist to cut the connection.

Percy smiled to himself. Of course Rachel already knew about him and Luke. There was a distinct advantage to being the Oracle. At least with Rachel, he didn't need to gather up the courage to confess that he was in love with Luke. Rachel seemed to be just fine with the fact that Percy and Luke were together, too; she certainly hadn't made a fuss about it. Maybe she'd actually known all along that Percy and Annabeth weren't going to work out.

He and Luke were going to, though. Percy was going to make sure of that. Whatever the prophecy was supposed to mean, whatever the future had in store for them, he and Luke were going to work through it together. They'd already broken past Aphrodite's games, with a little help from Eros. They'd survived the trial to get through the Underworld and back. Luke's memories were slowly surfacing and the truth would eventually come to light. Percy was going to make sure that he was there to help Luke through that, too.

Luke had said that they were on the fringe of a tapestry of lies. Percy disagreed. There were lies, to be sure, but there was also a truth between them, a truth stronger than the lies. The lies were the fringe and Luke and Percy...

...they were the tapestry itself.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This is the last chapter. The epilogue will come very soon – and I can actually promise that. I can also promise that the first chapter of the sequel to this story is in the planning stages. Keep your eyes on the lookout for it!


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